Jessie B. Rittenhouse, ed. (1869–1948). The Second Book of Modern Verse. 1922.

The Interpreter

IN the very early morning when the light was low

She got all together and she went like snow,

Like snow in the springtime on a sunny hill,

And we were only frightened and can’t think still.

We can’t think quite that the katydids and frogs

And the little crying chickens and the little grunting hogs,

And the other living things that she spoke for to us

Have nothing more to tell her since it happened thus.

She never is around for any one to touch,

But of ecstasy and longing she too knew much,

And always when any one has time to call his own

She will come and be beside him as quiet as a stone.