Poems By Arjava

THE wide sable expanse of infinite skies

From north to south is unfurled by giant hands :

And a new moon is cradled in swaddling bands

Somewhere beyond ; and the winds hush in surprise.

As a flight of grey murmuring birds aswim

On a mere of sky, darkness unharshens ; a shimmer and breath

Phantom the air : a sun reddening from underneath

Bend of the earth minutely forges to the brim.

Very lightly the tree-tops in a summer breeze

Wave their green plumes to the haze-rimmed sapphire sky :

June is ablaze with meandering butterfly

And bright lairs that bewilder the engrossed bees.

The heron's unhurrying nestward flight

Threads through the silence, and his deserted pool

Crimsons to wine.... Reremice across the cool

Flicker and spider-weave the shadowy night.