For C. W. B. - Elizabeth Bishop

Wow.  All I can say is.....wow.

For C.W.B.

I.

Let us live in a lull of the long winter winds

     Where the shy, silver-antlered reindeer go

On dainty hoofs with their white rabbit friends

     Amidst the delicate flowering snow.

All of our thoughts will be fairer than doves.

     We will live upon wedding-cake frosted with sleet.

We will build us a house from two red tablecloths

     And wear scarlet mittens on both hands and feet.

II.

Let us live in the land of the whispering trees;

     Alder and aspen and popular and birch;

Singing our prayers in a pale, sea-green breeze

     With star-flower rosaries and moss blankets for church.

All of our dreams will be clearer than glass,

     Clad in the water or sun as you wish,

We will watch the white feet of the young morning pass,

     And dine upon honey and small shiny fish.

III.

Let us live where the twilight lives after dark,

     In the deep drowsy blue, let us make a home.

Let us meet in the cool evening grass with a stork,

     And a whistle of willow played by a gnome.

Half-asleep, half-awake, we shall hear, we shall know

     The soft "Miserere" the wood-swallow tolls,

We will wander away where the wild raspberries grow,

     And eat them for tea from two lily-white bowls.

                                    ~ Elizabeth Bishop