Monday, April 11, 2016

Five Sparrows

East Kent, 11 April 2016


As nature makes a flower without toil
So God made you and me.
In the whole history of humanity
Not one your like or foil.


How beautiful you are and yet
Solomon in his glory
Blanched to see the May-born lily
Roused from its wintry bed.


See how that window’s slanting light
Sings out your bloom and colour,
Leaf-dappled, like some rare flower
That casts its perfume in the night.


Naked at your enamel washstand
You laugh at the gentle, chill air
Across bare boards you mount the stair
And leave me, foolishly, sad.


Five sparrows are not accounted great
Yet God knows every one
Two pennies thrown and the deal is done
Then how much longer must we wait?


As nature makes a flower without toil
So God made you and me.
In the whole history of humanity
Not one your like or foil.