Stillness

Each dawn the world awakens slow, In wings of bird-song, soft and low, The flowers yawn in pastel bursts, As nature quenches all its thirsts.

By streams so vivid, full of life, Where butterflies flit, free from strife, The flat horizon meets the skies, In liquid light, the beauty lies.

The oil of earth on every beam, The stillness echoes like a dream; And there amid the verdant green, The heart finds peace, serene, unseen.

• Mary Webb