a poem for today

Pavane for the Nursery

Now touch the air softly.  

Step gently--one, two.

I'll love you til roses are robin's egg blue.

I'll love you til gravel is eaten for bread

And lemons are orange, and lavender's red.

Now touch the air softly,

Swing gently the broom.

I'll love you til windows are all of a room

And the table is laid and the table is bare

And the ceiling reposes on bottomless air.

I'll love you til heaven rips the stars from his coat,

And the moon rows away in a glass-bottomed boat,

And Orion steps down like a diver below,

And Earth is ablaze--an ocean aglow.

So touch the air softly

And swing the broom high.

We will dust the grey mountains 

       and sweep the blue sky.

And I'll love you as long as the furrow the plow.

As however is ever, and ever is now.

William J.  Smith

(dedicated to my two grandkids)