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.