Ryton Firs

Across from gap to gap:

And in the larch woods on the highest boughs

The long-eared owls like grey cats sitting still

Peer down to quiz the passengers below.

Light has killed the winter and all dark dreams.

Now winds live all in light,

Light has come down to earth and blossoms here,

And we have golden minds.

From out the long shade of a road high-bankt,

I came on shelving fields;

And from my feet cascading,

Streaming down the land,

Flickering lavish of daffodils flowed and fell;

Like sunlight on a water thrill'd with haste,

Such clear pale quivering flame,

But a flame even more marvellously yellow.

And all the way to Ryton here I walkt

Ankle-deep in light.

It was as if the world had just begun;

And in a mind new-made

Of shadowless delight

My spirit drank my flashing senses in,

And gloried to be made

Of young mortality.

No darker joy than this

Golden amazement now

Shall dare intrude into our dazzling lives:

Stain were it now to know

Mists of sweet warmth and deep delicious colour,

Those lovable accomplices that come

Befriending languid hours.