BrilliantSummer matures. Brilliant Scorpion Appears.

Brilliant

The Pelican’s thick pouch

Hangs heavily with perch and slugs.

The brilliant-bellied newt flashes

Its crimson crest in the white water.

In the lush meadow, by the river,

The yellow-freckled toad laughs

With a toothless gurgle at the white-necked stork

Standing asleep on one red reedy leg.

[Pg 218]

And here Pan dreams of slim stalks clean for piping,

And of a nightingale gone mad with freedom.

Come. I shall weave a bed of reeds

And willow limbs and pale nightflowers.

I shall strip the roses of their petals,

And the white down from the swan’s neck.

Come. Night is here. The air is drunk

With wild grape and sweet clover.

And by the sacred fount of Aganippe

Euterpe sings of love. Ah, the woodland creatures,

The doves in pairs, the wild sow and her shoats,

The stag searching the forest for a mate,