Deep in the Forest

Deep in the forest

In a sea-green light,

Where the fern springs thickest

In eternal night,

The white moths weave their pattern

Above the blind mole's mound,

And badger comes to fatten

On what his eyes can find.

And where the nimble stoats rehearse

Their ballet of the kill,

Half-hidden by a century's moss

There grins a human skull.

It has been home for beetle

And shelter for the snake,

And half the woodland people

Have heard its dry lips speak;

When evening wind blows strongest,

Sounds in the sockets stir.

The creatures of the forest

Forget when it came there.

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