Cuckoo at Deià

              <For Robert Graves>

 

Old soliloquies in wood and ash

Composed a paused afternoon.

One bird continued.

 

From terraced fields,

Faint arias ascended La Serra de Tramuntana

In aural shades of Callet, Manto Negro and Syrah.

 

Over wild olives and mosaiced roofs,

A pale line between sea and sky emerged:

Transcribed Lapis Lazuli fused to Turquoise

In blue phrases of morning.

 

At Es Puia,

In viridity of all this growing light,

Rosemary winds painted still horizons

From ancient Lieders of the day.

 

In perfect remains of the lost spring,

One bird continued.

 

It was best to send friends away,

And remain alone in phrases of morning

With soliloquies of one bird

In turquoise, wood and ash.