No life in earth
Or air or sky
The sunbeams broken silently
On the bared rocks around me lie
Cold rocks with half warmed lichens scarred
And scales of moss
And scarce a yard
Away one long strip yellow barred
Lost in a cleft
'Tis but a stride
To reach it
Thrust its roots aside
And lift it on thy stick astride
For round thee
Thrilling air and space
A chattering terror fills the place
A sound as of dry bones that stir
In the dead valley
By yon fir
The locust stops its noonday whir
The wild bird hears
Smote with the sound
As if by bullet brought to ground
On broken wing dips
Wheeling round
The hare transfixed with trembling lip