CREATION THUS it was at eventide.

All my soul was open wide, And the windows of my heart Summer's fingers held apart. Over trees a music fell, As of some far wind-stirred ell Tossing in a elfry high, !uilt in depths of moonlit s"y. !ut no wind the near air stirred. #ightly as a spo"en word !reathed within a lover's ear $ropt rose-fla"es my casement near% And a white moth's dusty flight &ade faint sound across the night. Shadowed faces came and went, Shadow eyes a ove me ent' (hostly ro e and veil and )one' Harvest of old dreamings sown *n glad hours when ird and wing +illed the fallowed field of spring. Scarce * reathed in that still hour, Strange enchantment, rich with power, ,ith white hands my longing prest #ightly to her sil"en reast. Suddenly the silence thrilled * &agic light my spirit filled, And the forms my dreamings wrought *n full nets of truth were caught. ,orlds were open to my "en Thronged with life and reathing men% &usic from a woman's throat -dged with laughter seemed to float, And strange flutter of strange wings ,innowed thrones of gods and "ings, ,hile all woes that were and are \7\T ailed aloud to sun and star. !lood that all the years had led, Tears that all the sins had shed, .aining wildly over me Held me in an agony% !ut through all there seemed to float #aughter from a woman's throat. (ardens gay with loom and ird, $usts a /haraoh's chariot stirred, #onely streams whose dappled shores Heard the plash of pilgrim oars -re a royal secret hid '0eath the oldest pyramid' 1

These in vision fair and fine +or a holy hour were mine. Suns of oldest deserts set !y the 2ewelled minaret% And the cave-man lean and white Stared soul-startled through the night. !ut through all there seemed to float #aughter of a woman's throat. Some white ore ad, wet with dew, Heard the pipes the shepherd lew On the hillside's thymy steep ,here the long floc"s loved to creep% And a little altar smo"e &ade lue shadows near the oa". Sun- rowned gods, from worship free, Tal"ed with maids on Ossa's "nee. !earded "ings with furrowed row Taught the o3en teams to plough% And a sudden clash of shields .ang across the Spartan fields, ,here a wail of death arose +rom a town eset with foes. There the long ships near the shore &oved to wind and slave-strained oar !earing plunder of the south' +airer slaves of redder mouth And the ro es that 4ueens desire, /urple from the looms of Tyre. These in vision clear and fine + or a mystic hour were mine% !ut through all there seemed to float #aughter from one woman's throat5 Horror on the death-cho"ed air5 /its of dar"ness and despair Shudder 'neath the charnel lights, ,here the red worm writhes and ites And the living dead strive on ,hen all things ut pain are gone% And an awful purpose heaves Through the slime that so s and grieves, As if mammoth forms un orn Strove to reach the itter morn ,hen a hope, in Hope's despite, 6et might win them air and light That their stagnant lips might stain The red mouth of +aith again . . . . 6et o'er all there seemed to float #aughter of a woman's throat.

Shadow on the cloistered ways. Here no idle footfall strays, !ut with hood a out his ears Tal"s the schoolman with his peers. &on"ish oo"s are stored within% .estless 4uills must strive to win +rom the ways the sages trod All that is of man and (od, +ollowing the la oured line Of a song of loves and wine, #est within the script should hide -arth's last wonder, open-eyed. Salmon from the flowing stream' Tonsored heads have caught the gleam Of a sun that redly sets, Tinging learning with regrets +or the open life and free, Heedless of philosophy% +or through all there seemed to float #aughter of a woman's throat. All the things that * had dreamed *n that hour a out me streamed, 8lear as in the well of youth (leams the 2ewel light of truth. *, the dream-creator, there 9iewed my world through finer air% Strange, aloof from that * wrought, Saw the long, white lanes of Thought, -ven as (od may loo" to see Ages fainting at His "nee. . . . 6et through all there seemed to float #aughter from a woman's throat. (od whose dream in early spring Taught the youngest ird to sing, +illed a garden full of loom +or the first sweet ridal room, ,inged the planets in their flight' &ust He see as * this night: &ust He hear o'er all things float #aughter from a woman's throat As the last and perfect thing Of His vast imagining: Hear its silver thro ing call /iercing sweetness through the gall, And its clear insistence still &astering all thought and will: &ust He hear: ' Ah, (od and *, $reaming till all dreams run dry,

+aint efore the perfect thing Of our own imagining. . . . #iving woman that * wrote, !y the laughter in your throat, !y the dreams that come and die, Did God make you or did I?

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