Published on: 2/10/2014
A Cool and Green and Downward-Sloping Path

A cool and green and downward-sloping path
invited me to walk. I never asked
if sly and secret mute malicious wrath
lay leering under shady sheltering mask.
How restful ran the plunging path, how soon
came time to trudge the high and homeward way.
The still, serene and slumbering air of noon
blew bitter with the dying of the day.
The towering trees that broke the burning beams
and stopped the sun as spear is stopped by shield
were courtiers whose cold and cruel schemes
were early laid and all too late revealed.
How quick and cool the downward path and then
how hard and slow the struggle home again.