YOU, AND YELLOW AIR by John Shaw Neilson

I dream of an old kissing-time
   And the flowered follies there;
In the dim place of cherry-trees,
   Of you, and yellow air.


It was an age of babbling,
   When the players would play
Mad with the wine and miracles
   Of a charmed holiday.


Bewildered was the warm earth
   With whistling and sighs,
And a young foal spoke all his heart
   With diamonds for eyes.


You were of Love's own colour
   In eyes and heart and hair;
In the dim place of cherry-trees
   Ridden by yellow air.


It was the time when red lovers
   With the red fevers burn;
A time of bells and silver seeds
   And cherries on the turn.


Children looked into tall trees
   And old eyes looked behind;
God in His glad October
   No sullen man could find.


Out of your eyes a magic
   Fell lazily as dew,
And every lad with lad's eyes
   Made summer love to you.


It was a reign of roses,
   Of blue flowers for the eye,
And the rustling of green girls
   Under a white sky.


I dream of an old kissing-time
   And the flowered follies there,
In the dim place of cherry-trees,
   Of you, and yellow air.