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Fox Footprints/Reminiscence

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For works with similar titles, see Reminiscence.
4487601Fox Footprints — ReminiscenceElizabeth Jane Coatsworth
Reminiscence
I
It is a holiday, and shall be casually usedAs fits its dignity.I will wander among Japanese silksPiled here beside me on the window-seat,Stray squares of fancySold in the low close-packed Kyoto streets.Here are ultramarine riversWith long skeins of foamOn which float boats laden with flowers;Here are symbolsOn gamboge—pine, bamboo, heron and tortoiseAuguring an old age or a happy married life;And there a flock of fat-cheeked flying sparrowsIn browns and grays and dullest granite-bluesFlood a whole square of mauve and violet—The soft silk almost flutters with their wings;And next come fancies to entice a child:The black hare of the moon, pounding elixir,The jewelled orange crow that nests in the sun,And then my favorite, three round parasol-tops Jostling together while brocaded leavesFloat down upon them—there is the whole scene—The pith of autumn! scarlet wizardrySoft-tapping on the dull brown parasolsWhich hide invisible bright faces. . . .Idly I turn the squaresEach one the marrow of some delicate mood.