Summer Silence

Eruptive lightnings flutter to and fro
Above the heights of immemorial hills;
Thirst-stricken air, dumb-throated, in its woe
Limply down-sagging, its limp body spills
Upon the earth. A panting silence fills
The empty vault of Night with shimmering bars
Of sullen silver, where the lake distils
Its misered bounty. Hark! No whisper mars
The utter silence of the untranslated stars.

-- e. e. cummings (1894-1962), American poet; this poem first published in the Harvard Advocate, 1913