Pastoral Poem by Allen Tate

The enquiring fields, courtesies
And tribulations of the air-
Be still and give them peace:

The girl in the gold hair
With her young man in clover
In shadow of the day's glare

And there they were by the river
Where a leafs light interval
Ringed the deep hurrying mirror;

Yet naught there to befall
Such meditations as beguile
Courage when love grows tall

For tall he was in green style
Of a willow shaking the pool.
'Let time be quiet as a mile,'

He said, 'time is love's fool.'
Yet time he would appease:
'Time, be easy and cool.'

The enquiring courtesies
Of first dusk then debated
To cloud their agonies:

She, her head back, waited
Barbarous the stalking tide;
He, nor balked nor sated

But plunged into the wide
Area of mental ire,
Lay at her wandering side.