DAVIE, Donald

Tunstall Forest

Stillness! Down the dripping ride,

The firebreak avenue

Of Tunstall Forest, at the side

Of which we sought for you,

You did not come. The soft rain dropped

And quiet indeed we found:

No cars but ours, and ours was stopped,

Rainfall the only sound.

And quiet is a lovely essence;

Silence is of the tomb,

Austere though happy; but the tense

Stillness did not come,

The deer did not, although they fed

Perhaps nearby that day,

The liquid eye and elegant head

No more than a mile away.