When They Require Gardens

Alfred Kreymborg

When they require gardens in their lives,
The thieves have shorn monotonous and gray
A form of nodding color which revives
A house of desolation locked in clay;
When they demand another cloud of rain
To make the earth unfold the hyacinth,
Wistaria vines to cool the throbbing vein,
Felicity to fold the labyrinth,
They raise their eyes to her whose grace and wit
Reanimate the shadows of the room,
Her eyes nocturnal beings exquisite
With witchery to make the stillness bloom;
Dark gypsy lovers bringing haunting fire
Whose dancers, mimes and clowns with moons. conspire.