Watching you, I felt chill winds of springtime blow
Among white cherry trees and purple sprays -
Saw the lost gardens amid the scents of long ago
Of the last lands whose lids are closed in final days.
Pressing flowers into the leaves and loneliness
Kneeling to the mud or delving for the sand
Quiet frames of countenance and loveliness
I longed to comfort you and take your hand
And catch your eyes and gaze at you my lost girl
In wonder at the years now left in beauty’s stead
And you would laugh and say ‘Kind Sir’ and twirl -
Tossing bemusedly your wise angelic head.
Only time divides our souls – and time is on our side
And those who went before will leave the window wide.
May 14, 2015
May 14, 2015 at 12:17 AM UTC
Watching you, I felt chill winds of springtime blow
Among white cherry trees and purple sprays -
Saw the lost gardens amid the scents of long ago
Of the last lands whose lids are closed in final days.
Pressing flowers into the leaves and loneliness
Kneeling to the mud or delving for the sand
Quiet frames of countenance and loveliness
I longed to comfort you and take your hand
And catch your eyes and gaze at you my lost girl
In wonder at the years now left in beauty’s stead
And you would laugh and say ‘Kind Sir’ and twirl -
Tossing bemusedly your wise angelic head.
Only time divides our souls – and time is on our side
And those who went before will leave the window wide.
Written on having seen the movie 'A Testament of Youth' which covers the life of Vera Brittain (a young writer and nurse) during World War 1 and having viewed Mervyn O'Gorman's extraordinary contemporary colored photographs of his beautiful daughter Christine.
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