Crotalus - Shokran

No life in earth, or air, or sky

The sunbeams, broken silently

On the bared rocks around me lie

Cold rocks with half-warmed lichens scarred

And scales of moss;

and scarce a yard

Away, one long strip, yellow-barred

Lost in a cleft!

'Tis but a stride

To reach it, thrust its roots aside

And lift it on thy stick astride!

For round thee, thrilling air and space

A chattering terror fills the place!

A sound as of dry bones that stir

In the dead Valley!

By yon fir

The locust stops its noonday whir!

The wild bird hears;

smote with the sound

As if by bullet brought to ground

On broken wing, dips, wheeling round!

The hare, transfixed, with trembling lip