Camomile Tea

-by Katherine Mansfield

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 the horrible cottage upon the Lee

That he and I should be sitting so

And 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 flower A 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 leg

My knee is pressing

against his knee.


Our shutters

are shut,the fire is low,

The tap is dripping peacefully;

The saucepan shadows on the wall Are black and round and plain to see.