The Traitors

A cry of ruin strides the sky

Tonight above our burdened fields

That lift the weight of summer high

Like trophy on their glittering shields.

Wings tread night's silent noon, and words

Of peril fall from straining bills,

Where loud with prophecy the birds

Call startled sleepers to their sills,

While windows swing and iron chains

Strangle the hound's uproarious throat,

To see on farms and silver skeins

Of brooks the moon-live shadows float.

The geese bear windward to the south

Arousing panic as they ride,

Their treachery the first, their mouth

The first to shake earth's drowsing pride,

Till fear assails the eyes that scan

The broken night whose breath the frost

Will stiffen, and the bravest man

Cries ruin, and the world is lost.

Their treason threads the lakes and groves,

Whose sparrows hear wild cries and stir,

Till summer waits alone, but loves

The thief who comes to plunder her.

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