Advice: A Book of Poems

<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</SPAN></span> <h2 class="nobreak">RATTLESNAKE MOUNTAIN FABLE II</h2> <div class="poetry-container"> <div class="poetry"> <div class="verse">August sauntered down the mountain-side,</div> <div class="verse">Dropping mottled, turbid wraiths of decay.</div> <div class="verse">The air was like an old priest</div> <div class="verse">Disrobing without embarrassment</div> <div class="verse">Before the dark and candid gaze of night.</div> <div class="verse">But these things brought no pause</div> <div class="verse">To the saucily determined squirrel.</div> <div class="verse">His eyes were hungrily upturned</div> <div class="verse">To where the stars hung&mdash;icily clustered nuts</div> <div class="verse">Dotting trees of solitude.</div> <div class="verse">He saw the stars just over the horizon,</div> <div class="verse">And they seemed to grow</div> <div class="verse">On trees that he could reach.</div> <div class="verse">So he scampered on, from branch to branch,</div> <div class="verse">Wondering why the fairy nut-trees</div> <div class="verse">Ran away from him.</div> <div class="verse">But, looking down, he spied</div> <div class="verse">A softly wild cheeked mountain pool,</div> <div class="verse">And there a handful of fairy nuts</div> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</SPAN></span> <div class="verse">Bit into the indigo cupping them.</div> <div class="verse">With a squeal of weary happiness</div> <div class="verse">The squirrel plunged into the mountain pool,</div> <div class="verse">And as he drowned within its soundless heart</div> <div class="verse">The fairy nuts were jigging over him,</div> <div class="verse">Like the unheard stirring of a poem.</div> </div></div> <hr class="chap" /> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />