138 . The Pleiades

LAST night I saw the Pleiades again,

Faint as a drift of steam

From some tall chimney-stack;

And I remembered you as you were then:

Awoke dead worlds of dream,

And Time turned slowly back.

I saw the Pleiades through branches bare,

And close to mine your face

Soft glowing in the dark;

For Youth and Hope and Love and You were there

At our dear trysting-place

In that bleak London park.

And as we kissed the Pleiades looked down

From their immeasurable

Aloofness in cold Space.

Do you remember how a last leaf brown

Between us flickering fell

Soft on your upturned face?

Last night I saw the Pleiades again,

Here in the alien South,

Where no leaves fade at all;

And I remembered you as you were then,

And felt upon my mouth

Your leaf-light kisses fall!

The Pleiades remember and look down

On me made old with grief,

Who then a young god stood,

When you—now lost and trampled by the Town,

A lone wind-driven leaf,—

Were young and sweet and good!