Memory
ALONG the kerb where chestnuts young Spread late-hung leaves in layers green, And light their candles, dies the noise, And the rain softly falls.
No step, no sound, an empty road, Where sentinels of silent spring Flank either side its solitude, And the rain softly falls.
Each tree so far apart, a torch Of green reproof against the grey. Glistens the asphalt of the path, And the rain softly falls.
Calmer than any field at dawn A patch of emerald-fading sky Borders upon a saffron creek, And the rain softly falls.
One star afloat upon the creek. A tuft of grass athwart a wall Drinks up the bounty offered it, And the rain softly falls.
Is this to love, to watch that light Lit in a house so much the same As all its neighbours? Dusk creeps up, And the rain softly falls.
One street away a laggard tram Lurches unevenly along, Its echo dies, footsteps draw near, And the rain softly falls.
Quick tread, unknown, unheeded come, Unheeding gone, in haste to go, Never again to meet, it fades, And the rain softly falls.
Pass stranger, with incurious eye Fixed to the earth : though beauty's here She needs no witness. The leaves drip, And the rain softly falls. MONK GIBBON.
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