Landscape scene at dusk, with a crescent moon in a blue sky, the sun having just set over the horizon. A woman, carrying a bundle on her head and holding the hand of a young child, herds a few cattle and a single goat, down a path. They are heading towards the town, which has a church tower, that can be seen in the distance to the left of the image. There is a large waterfall and lake in the centre of the composition, flanked on the right by a tree-covered rocky hill, on the top of which is a ruined castle or abbey. There is a single tree in centre-left, with two other trees (one a poplar) a little further down the track. In the distance to the right, birds can be seen starting to roost.

'And now wind homeward in the dying light; Homeward, my flocks, for Hesperus is bright'.