I could have begun with a purple hue,

Dipped in the nighttime luster –

Though you may not have cared

To see the color through.

I could have shown some shaded leaves

Strangely lit beneath the dusk,

Falling as silent droplets drop

To smooth the jagged earth.

I could have sung a midnight thrush

Tut, tut, oh-lay-oh-leeeee!

It’s liquid trill precise and clean,

It’s flutelike song so quickly hushed.

But I began with the bonewhite path,

With steps of dust and shadow

Past sleeping limbs, now darkly green,

In a dappled moonlit glow.