THE PRAYER OF THE FLOWERS

 It was the voice of the flowers on the West wind, the lovable, the old, the lazy West wind, blowing ceaselessly, blowing sleepily, going Greecewards.

 

"The woods have gone away, they have fallen and left us; men love us no longer, we are lonely by moonlight. Great engines rush over the beautiful fields, their ways lie hard and terrible up and down the land.

 

"The cancrous cities spread over the grass, they clatter¹ in their lairs² continually, they glitter about us blemishing³ the night.

 

"The woods are gone, O Pan, the woods, the woods. And thou art far, O Pan, and far away."

 

I was standing⁴ by night between two railway embankments on the edge of a Midland city. On one of them I saw the trains go by, once in every two minutes, and on the other, the trains went by twice in every five.

 

Quite close were the glaring factories, and the sky above them wore the fearful look that it wears in dreams of fever.

 

The flowers were right in the stride of that advancing city, and thence I heard them sending up their cry. And then I heard, beating musically up wind, the voice of Pan reproving them from Arcady—

 

"Be patient a little, these things are not for long."

1 clatter   

v./n.(使)发出连续而清脆的撞击声

参考例句：

• The dishes and bowls slid together with a clatter.碟子碗碰得丁丁当当的。
• Don't clatter your knives and forks.别把刀叉碰得咔哒响。

2 lairs   

n.（野兽的）巢穴，窝( lair的名词复数 )；（人的）藏身处

参考例句：

• Beholders usually carve out underground lairs for themselves using their disintegrate rays. 眼魔经常用它们的解离射线雕刻自己的地底巢穴。 来自互联网
• All animals are smothered in their lairs. 所有的小生灵都躲在巢穴里冬眠。 来自互联网

3 blemishing   

v.有损…的完美，玷污( blemish的现在分词 )

参考例句：

4 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。