D.H. Lawrence (1885–1930). New Poems. 1916.
34. Reading a Letter
S
Under an oak whose yellow buds dot the pale blue sky.
The young grass twinkles in the wind, and the sound
Of the wind in the knotted buds in a canopy.
Of the wind, she is lifted and carried away as in a balloon
Across the insensible void, till she stoops to see
The sandy desert beneath her, the dreary platoon.
Stirring with earth-coloured life, ever turning and stirring.
But never the motion has a human face
Nor sound, save intermittent machinery whirring.
She alights a stranger, wondering, unused to the scene;
Suffering at sight of the children playing around,
Hurt at the chalk-coloured tulips, and the evening-green.