MOMENTS
I’ve seen the rich dark earth fling up
Cuckoo-flower and buttercup,
I’ve heard the meadows burst with song
Of thrush and blackbird all day long,
I’ve seen the burning sun go by
With a pomp of cloud in the roofless sky,
I’ve heard the wind whistle and shout
And toss the tallest oaks about,
I’ve seen, I’ve heard the flash and the call
Of the distant thundering waterfall ...
My soul turns back to me again
At twilight. All the day like rain
It has scattered itself in drops and flashes
And moments of colour, and sudden splashes,
Has flown and mixed with the single notes
Quick-pouring from the song-birds’ throats,
Losing itself and multiplying,
Living a thousand lives and dying.
My busy eyes at the fall of day
I close: I shut the world away.
Now no star may pierce the gloom
Of my fragile-curtained room,
But flowers more wonderful and trees more tall
Bloom in the dark there; sweet dews fall;
Silence cries with the ghost of sound;
Flashes of colour and tune are found
Linked in one. I hear, I hear
The voice of Spring cry out to me there,
And the voice of Spring is the voice of Love
Crying below, around, above,
While—in the dark of my body—his eyes
Burn more deep than star-flushed skies.