The well was dry beside the door
And so we went with pail and can
Across the fields behind the house
To seek the brook if still it ran;

Not loth to have excuse to go
Because the autumn eve was fair
(Though chill), because the fields were ours
And by the brook our woods were there

We ran as if to meet the moon
That slowly dawned behind the trees
The barren boughs without the leaves
Without the birds, without the breeze

But once within the wood, we paused
Like gnomes that hid us from the moon
Ready to run to hiding new
With laughter when she found us soon

Each laid on other a staying hand
To listen ere we dared to look
And in the hush we joined to make
We heard, we knew we heard the brook

A note as from a single place
A slender tinkling fall that made
Now drops that floated on the pool
Like pearls, and now a silver blade