In the awful hush of the sky and the plain she heard the beat of her own blood in her ears.

She longed for song to express the swelling of her throat and the wistful ache of her heart.
-- --------------------------------------------------------------------- AN AFTERWORD: OF WINDS, SNOWS AND THE STARS....
O witchery of the winter night (With broad moon shouldering to the west)! In city streets the west wind sweeps Before my feet in rustling flight; The midnight snows in untracked heaps Lie cold and desolate and white.
I stand and wait with upturned eyes, Awed with the splendor of the skies And star-trained progress of the moon.
The city walls dissolve like smoke Beneath the magic of the moon, And age falls from me like a cloak; I hear sweet girlish voices ring, Clear as some softly stricken string-- (The moon is sailing to the west.) The sleigh-bells clash in homeward flight; With frost each horse's breast is white-- (The big moon sinking to the west.) * * * * * "Good night, Lettie!" "Good night, Ben!" (The moon is sinking at the west.) "Good night, my sweetheart," Once again The parting kiss while comrades wait Impatient at the roadside gate, And the red moon sinks beyond the west..