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.