Behind Stowe
  Elizabeth Bishop

I heard an elf go whistling by,
A whistle sleek as moonlit grass,
that drew me like a silver string
To where the dusty, pale moths fly,
And make a magic as they pass;
A there I heard a cricket sing.

His sing echoed through and through
The dark under a windy tree
Where glinted little insects' wings.
His singing split the sky in two.
The halves fell either side of me,

And I stood straight, bright with moon-rings.


Elizabeth bishop was only sixteen when the poem was published 
by The Blue Peniel in 1927. She was born February 8, 1911 in
Massachusetts. She won the 1956 Pulitzer prize in poetry and 
winner of the 1970 National Book award. She died October 6, 1979.