Poems (Mansfield)/Camomile Tea
CAMOMILE TEA
Outside the sky is light with stars;There's a hollow roaring from the sea.And, alas! for the little almond flowers,The wind is shaking the almond tree.
How little I thought, a year ago,In that horrible cottage upon the LeeThat he and I should be sitting soAnd sipping a cup of camomile tea.
Light as feathers the witches fly,The horn of the moon is plain to see;By a firefly under a jonquil flowerA goblin toasts a bumble-bee.
We might be fifty, we might be five,So snug, so compact, so wise are we!Under the kitchen-table legMy knee is pressing against his knee.
Our shutters are shut, the fire is low,The tap is dripping peacefully;The saucepan shadows on the wallAre black and round and plain to see. 1916.