Page:The Heart of England.djvu/233

 pearly lichened oak woods, ousels to flash on the moors, skiey swifts, doves to fill the green caverns of the beeches, and all the chatterers that hide in blackthorn and cornel thickets when it is best to walk among them; and the men heave, for they are coming to the land even now.

Very near now are the lizards of the drowsy nettle-beds, snakes to curl and uncurl upon the sunlit moss, and blue sylphs for the rivulets. All are coming in from this placid sea; and so the men heave, and the white houses begin to glitter, and the golden mist over the sea promises that days shall again be long, and men shall sit carelessly on gates and sleep under the hedge at noon and adventure and make plans in the pure mornings that are at hand.