Page:Songs, Legends, and Ballads.djvu/300

286 Like flying fire, and huge brown owls awake To watch, far down, the stealing carpet snake, Fresh-skinned and glowing in his changing dyes, With evil wisdom in the cruel eyes That glint like gems as o'er his head flits by The blue-black armor of the emperor-fly; And all the humid earth displays its powers Of prayer, with incense from the hearts of flowers That load the air with beauty and with wine Of mingled color, as with one design Of making there a carpet to be trod, In woven splendor, by the feet of God!

And high overhead is color: round and round The towering gums and tuads, closely wound Like cables, creep the climbers to the sun, And over all the reaching branches run And hang, and still send shoots that climb and wind Till every arm and spray and leaf is twined, And miles of trees, like brethren joined in love, Are drawn and laced; while round them and above,