A Southern Road

Yolk-colored tongue 
Parched beneath a burning sky, 
A lazy little tune 
Hummed up the crest of some 
Soft sloping hill.  
One streaming line of beauty 
Flowing by a forest 
Pregnant with tears. 
A hidden nest for beauty 
Idly flung by God 
In one lonely lingering hour 
Before the Sabbath. 
A blue-fruited black gum, 
Like a tall predella, 
Bears a dangling figure,— 
Sacrificial dower to the raff,
Swinging alone,
A solemn, tortured shadow in the air.