Classic Poem

To R.C.C. AND C.D.C.

Somewhere, sometime, in an April twilight,
When the hills are hid in violet shadows
When meadow brooks are still and hushed for wonder,
At the ring dove's call as at a summons,
Let us gather from the world's four quarters,
Stealing from the trackless dusk like shadows,
Meet to wait the moon, and greet in silence.
When she swims above the April branches,
Rises clear of naked oak and beeches,
Sit with me beneath the snowy orchard,
Where the white moth hangs with wings entranced,
Drunken with the still perfume of blossoms.
Then, for that the moon was ours of olden,
Let it work again its old enchantment.
Let it, for an April night, transform us
From our grosser selves to happy shadows
Of the three who lay and planned at moonrise,
On an island in a western river,
Of the conquest of the world together.
Let us pour our amber wine and drink it
To the memory of our vanished kingdom,
To our days of war and ocean venture,
Brave with brigandage and sack of cities;
To the Odysseys of summer mornings,
Starry wonder-tales of nights in April.