I TAKE THESE GREEN-LACED LEAVES
I take these green-laced leaves,
this pageantry of spring,
these subtle buds to flowers,
the honeyed blossoms and the ivory race of clouds
the windy dawns have set in motion,
I take all these, and more :
                                           these bluebells
purple with commotion (yet to cover forest-floors!),
these hyacinths that out of more and still more
wild-flowering centres, bring forth myrrh and fume,
I take all these, and the larks that fill and fill further
every horizon as if none held but for
the nutshell-necessity of being tilled
to a central opalescence of singing pearl –
yes, all these, and pearls, voluptuous empires,
I take, I take all these, and you, yes, you,
my dark-haired darling crying on an apple-blossom pillow,
a wavering petal in petals, dark-leafed, of willow, I take forever,
for forever’s sake, all these, for you, all you.