<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page_91" id="page_91"></SPAN>{91}</span></p>
<h2><SPAN name="IN_THE_HEART_OF_THE_HILLS" id="IN_THE_HEART_OF_THE_HILLS"></SPAN>IN THE HEART OF THE HILLS</h2>
<div class="poetry">
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">In</span> the warm blue heart of the hills<br/></span>
<span class="i0">My beautiful, beautiful one<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Sleeps where he laid him down<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Before the journey was done.<br/></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">All the long summer day<br/></span>
<span class="i0">The ghosts of noon draw nigh,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">And the tremulous aspens hear<br/></span>
<span class="i0">The footing of winds go by.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page_92" id="page_92"></SPAN>{92}</span><br/></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">Down to the gates of the sea,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Out of the gates of the west,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Journeys the whispering river<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Before the place of his rest.<br/></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">The road he loved to follow<br/></span>
<span class="i0">When June came by his door,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Out through the dim blue haze<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Leads, but allures no more.<br/></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">The trailing shadows of clouds<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Steal from the slopes and are gone;<br/></span>
<span class="i0">The myriad life in the grass<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Stirs, but he slumbers on;<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page_93" id="page_93"></SPAN>{93}</span><br/></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">The inland wandering tern<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Skreel as they forage and fly;<br/></span>
<span class="i0">His loons on the lonely reach<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Utter their querulous cry;<br/></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">Over the floating lilies<br/></span>
<span class="i0">A dragon-fly tacks and steers;<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Far in the depth of the blue<br/></span>
<span class="i0">A martin settles and veers;<br/></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">To every roadside thistle<br/></span>
<span class="i0">A gold-brown butterfly clings;<br/></span>
<span class="i0">But he no more companions<br/></span>
<span class="i0">All the dear vagrant things.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page_94" id="page_94"></SPAN>{94}</span><br/></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">The strong red journeying sun,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">The pale and wandering rain,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Will roam on the hills forever<br/></span>
<span class="i0">And find him never again.<br/></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">Then twilight falls with the touch<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Of a hand that soothes and stills,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">And a swamp-robin sings into light<br/></span>
<span class="i0">The lone white star of the hills.<br/></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">Alone in the dusk he sings,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">And a burden of sorrow and wrong<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Is lifted up from the earth<br/></span>
<span class="i0">And carried away in his song.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page_95" id="page_95"></SPAN>{95}</span><br/></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">Alone in the dusk he sings,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">And the joy of another day<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Is folded in peace and borne<br/></span>
<span class="i0">On the drift of years away.<br/></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">But there in the heart of the hills<br/></span>
<span class="i0">My beautiful weary one<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Sleeps where he laid him down;<br/></span>
<span class="i0">And the large sweet night is begun.<br/></span></div>
</div></div>
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