Mid-Autumn

Plucked from before the hulks of houses going up My childhood sea and spot of southern sky The cornflower eyes northern poets wove into their songs And eastern poets sang the autumn high Climbed hills to catch the moon Timid flower placed inside a Chinese vase Enamel green the ocean waves Silvered summit at the rim Of years carried in this ebbing tide I had many autumns and many gilded nights Air crisp, sky long and blue, blue Cornflower-hue of splendid time Pressed as scavenged leaves between the pages of old books Verse the fixing glue when flower lives are but a glimpse A faded head and sea gone dry, the petals lost The poets leant from their pavilions to fish the gentle orb And roam the stars I roam the concrete paths and pick the crumbs A snatch of light between the clouds