A Noonday Melody

Everything goes to its rest;         The hills are asleep in the noon;     And life is as still in its nest         As the moon when she looks on a moon     In the depth of a calm river's breast         As it steals through a midnight in June.     The streams have forgotten the sea         In the dream of their musical sound;     The sunlight is thick on the tree,         And the shadows lie warm on the ground,--     So still, you may watch them and see         Every breath that awakens around.     The churchyard lies still in the heat,         With its handful of mouldering bone,     As still as the long stalk of wheat         In the shadow that sits by the stone,     As still as the grass at my feet         When I walk in the meadows alone.     The waves are asleep on the main,         And the ships are asleep on the wave;     And the thoughts are as still in my brain         As the echo that sleeps in the cave;     All rest from their labour and pain--         Then why should not I in my grave?