ancestors and hers are buried: andshe looked round on the effigies andsaid, “How long will it be before welie here carved together?” And I thoughtI heard the wind in the apple trees thatseemed to whisper, “How long?”

And late that night, when all wereasleep, I went back to the dell andsaid in my turn, “How long?” Andfor a moment I seemed to see ahand and apple stretched from themiddle of the tree where my love hadstood. And then it was gone: and [?] I plucked the applesand bit them and cast them in thepit, and said, “Come.”

I speak of my love, and she lovesme well: but I love her only as thestone whirling down the rapids lovesthe dead leaf that travels with blank page it and clings to it, and that thesame eddy will swallow up.

Last night, at last, I dreamed how the endwill come & now I know it is near. I saw in sleep not only thelifelong pageant of the glen, but I tookmy part in it at last and knew learned for certain why that dream was mine.

I seemed to be walking with my love amongthe hills that lead downward to the glen:and still she said, “It is late;” but thewind was glenwards, and said, “Hither.”And still she said, “Home grows far;”but the rooks flew glenwards, and said,“Hither.” And still she said, “Come back;”but the sun had set, and the moonlaboured towards the glen, and said,“Hither.” And my heart said in me,“Aye, thither at last.” Then we stoodon the summit of margin of the slope,with the apple-trees beneath us; andthe moon bade the clouds fall from her,and sat in her throne like the sun atnoonday: and none of the apple-treeswere bare now, though autumn wasfar worn, but fruit & blossom coveredthem together. And they were too thickto see through clearly; but looking far down I saw a white hand holding forth an apple,and heard the first notes of the Siren's song.Then my love clung to me and wept; butI began to struggle down the slope throughthe thick wall of bough and fruit andblossom, scattering them as the storm scattersthe dead leaves; for that one apple onlywould my heart have. And my love snatchedat me as I went; but the branches I thrustaway sprang back on my path, & toreher hands and face: and the lastI knew of her was the lifting of herarms to heaven as she cried aloud aboveme, while I still forced my way downwards.And now the Siren's song rose clearer as I went.At first she sang, “Come to Love;” and of thesweetness of Love she said many things. And nextshe sang, “Come to Life;” & Life was sweet inher song. But long before I reached her, sheknew that all her will was mine: and thenher voice rose softer than ever, and her wordswere, “Come to Death;” and Death's name inher mouth was the very swoon of all sweetest thingsthat be. And then my path cleared; and shestood over against me in the fork of the tree I knew so well, blazing now like a lamp beneath the moon. And onekiss I had of her mouth, as I took the apple from herhand. But while I bit it, my brain whirled & myfoot stumbled; and I felt my crashing fall throughthe tangled boughs beneath her feet, and saw thedead Damned white faces that welcomed me in thepit. And so I woke cold in my bed: but it stillseemed that I lay indeed at last among those whoshall be my mates for ever, and could feel the applestill in my hand.