.....LOVING

CAMOMILE TEA

Outside the sky is light with stars;
There's a hollow roaring from the sea.
And alas!  For the little almond flowers,
The wind is shaking the almond tree.

How little I thought, a year ago,
In the horrible cottage upon the lee
That He and I should be sitting so
And sipping a cup of Camomile tea.

Light as a feather the witches fly,
The horn of the moon is plain to see;
By a firefly under a jonquil flower
A goblin toasts a bumble-bee.

We might be fifty we might be five,
so snug, so compact, so wise are we!
Under the kitchen-table leg
My knee is pressing against his knee.

Our shutters are shut, the fire is low,
The tap is dripping peacefully;
The saucepan shadows on the wall
Are black and round and plain to see.

Poem by Katherine Mansfield