DOWN

Downstairs a clock had chimed, two o'clock only.

Then outside from the hen-roost crowing came.

But why should Shift-wing call against the clock,

Three hours from dawn? The shutters click and knock,

And he remembers a sad superstition

Unfitting for the sick-bed—Turn aside,

Distract, divide, ponder the simple tales

That puzzled childhood; riddles, turn them over,