II. SUNSET.

So saith he, when noontide fervors flout him,

So thinks, when the West is amber and red,

When he smells the hop-vines sweet about him,

And the clouds are rosy overhead.

While slender and tall the hop-poles going

Straight to the West in their leafy lines,

Portion it out into chambers, glowing,

And bask in red day as the sun declines.

Between the leaves in his latticed arbor

He sees the sky, as they flutter and turn,

While moor'd like boats in a golden harbor

The fleets of feathery cloudlets burn.

Withdrawn in shadow, he thinketh over

Harsh thoughts, the fruit-laden trees among,

Till pheasants call their young to cover,

And cushats coo them a nursery song.

And flocks of ducks forsake their sedges,

Wending home to the wide barn-door,

And loaded wains between the hedges

Slowly creep to his threshing floor —

Slowly creep. And his tired senses,

Float him over the magic stream,

To a world where Fancy recompenses

Vengeful thoughts, with a troubled dream!