What's O'Clock/Song for a Viola d'Amore
SONG FOR A VIOLA D'AMORE
The lady of my choice is bright As a clematis at the touch of night, As a white clematis with a purple heart When twilight cuts earth and sun apart.Through the dusking garden I hear her voice Asa smooth, sweet, wandering, windy noise, And I see her stand as a ghost may doIn answer to a rendez-vous Long sought with agony and prayer. So watching her, I see her there.
I sit beneath a quiet tree And watch her everlastingly. The garden may or may not be Before my eyes, I cannot see. But darkness drifting up and down Divides to let her silken gown Gleam there beside the clematis. How marvellously white it is! Five white blossoms and she are there Like candles in a fluttering air Escaping from a tower stair.
Be still you cursed, rattling leaf,This is no time to think of grief.
The night is soft, and fire-flies Are very casual, gay, and wise, And they have made a tiny glee Just where the clematis and she Are standing. Since the sky is clear, Do they suppose that, once a year, The moon and five white stars appear Walking the earth; that, so attended, Diana came and condescended To hold speech with Endymion Before she came at last alone.
The lady of my choice is bright As a clematis at the fall of night. Her voice is honeysuckle sweet, Her presence spreads an April heat Before the going of her feet. She is of perfectness complete. The lady whom my heart perceives As a clematis above its leaves, As a purple-hearted clematis. And what is lovelier than that is?