Why do ye call the poet lonely,
  Because he dreams in lonely places? 
He is not desolate, but only
  Sees, where ye cannot, hidden faces.

HEAT

From plains that reel to southward, dim,
  The road runs by me white and bare;
Up the steep hill it seems to swim
  Beyond, and melt into the glare. 
Upward half way, or it may be
  Nearer the summit, slowly steals
A hay-cart, moving dustily
  With idly clacking wheels.

By his cart’s side the wagoner
  Is slouching slowly at his ease,
Half-hidden in the windless blur
  Of white dust puffing to his knees. 
This wagon on the height above,
  From sky to sky on either hand,
Is the sole thing that seems to move
  In all the heat-held land.

Beyond me in the fields the sun
  Soaks in the grass and hath his will;
I count the marguerites one by one;
  Even the buttercups are still. 
On the brook yonder not a breath
  Disturbs the spider at the midge. 
The water-bugs draw close beneath
  The cool gloom of the bridge.

Where the far elm-tree shadows flood
  Dark patches in the burning grass,
The cows, each with her peaceful cud,
  Lie waiting for the heat to pass. 
From somewhere on the slope near by
  Into the pale depth of the noon
A wandering thrush slides leisurely
  His thin revolving tune.

In intervals of dreams I hear
  The cricket from the droughty ground;
The grass-hoppers spin into mine ear
  A small innumerable sound. 
I lift my eyes somewhat to gaze: 
  The burning sky-line blinds my sight: 
The woods far off are blue with haze: 
  The hills are drenched in light.

And yet to me not this or that
  Is always sharp or always sweet;
In the sloped shadow of my hat
  I lean at rest, and drain the heat;
Nay more, I think some blessed power
  Hath brought me wandering idly here: 
In the full furnace of this hour
  My thoughts grow keen and clear.

AMONG THE TIMOTHY

Long hours ago, while yet the morn was blithe,
  Nor sharp athirst had drunk the beaded dew,
A reaper came, and swung his cradled scythe
  Around this stump, and, shearing slowly, drew
  Far round among the clover, ripe for hay,
    A circle clean and grey;
And here among the scented swathes that gleam,
  Mixed with dead daisies, it is sweet to lie
  And watch the grass and the few-clouded sky,
    Nor think but only dream.

For when the noon was turning, and the heat
  Fell down most heavily on field and wood,
I too came hither, borne on restless feet,
  Seeking some comfort for an echoing mood. 
  Ah, I was weary of the drifting hours,
    The echoing city towers,
The blind grey streets, the jingle of the throng,
  Weary of hope that like a shape of stone,
  Sat near at hand without a smile or moan,
    And weary most of song.