Twilight Songs No. 3

One early morning I happened to roam by chance, up to my former home.

In the yard, nothing was re-arranged; not a stone or pathway had changed.

Veiling the fields, still asleep, the night haze hung deep.

Though threatened by the night frost my brother’s labour was not lost.

Everything caught in the morning’s gleam like a happy sleeper’s dream.

There wasn’t a soul to be heard, not even the aspens had yet stirred;

only the weathervane, an old friend, moved there, guarding the roof’s end;

just from the stable side, the sound of the foals’ feet on the ground.

I wondered at the happy scene: peaceful, secure, serene.

I stood in the night, to listen and to view – For all this, once, was my lot, too.

Then the cock crew. And somehow, I Shuddered, like one who has told a lie.

I stood and wept. Turning my head away, I felt myself to be Peter that day.