Näiade (Rebikoff op. 15, No. 1)

(For X.M.H.)

What seeketh she
Who stealeth from the starry gliding stream,
So lightly treading that the grasses seem
Scarce moved? her young breast trembles and her pale & rms gleam
Mysteriously.

So silently
The moon doth bathe her slender body white
That like a wraith she passes from the light
Into the secret shadow of the woodland night.
What seeketh she?

So delicately
She draweth intertwining twigs apart
And peereth through the trees; 0, see her start,
0 list! the sudden struggle of her prison'd heart.
What seeketh she?

J.C.B.