Tuesday

C is for Chamomile Tea

Born in New Zealand, Katherine Mansfield (1888-1923) was a poet and short story writer. Her most popular works included “Miss Brill,” “The Doll’s House,” “The Fly,” and “The Garden Party.”

Here’s a classic verse from her collections.


Chamomile 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 chamomile 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.

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Image/s:
Teatime by August Borckmann (1889)
Public Domain
A to Z Blogging Challenge 2012 logo
Fair Use
Favorite Classic Poems
Adapted from ClipArt ETC
 
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7 comments:

  1. A beautiful poem, quite fitting for our A-Z Challenge.

    A-Z 2012 (#49) - Bloggit Write A-Z 2012 - Poetry
    A-Z 2012 (#861) - Bloggit Write A-Z 2012 - Haiku

    ReplyDelete
  2. Chamomile tea is one of favorites. What a delightful poem you shared about it:)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Both Mansfield and Chamomile tea are my faves. Thanks for sharing this.


    --Damyanti, Co-host A to Z Challenge April 2012

    Twitter: @AprilA2Z
    #atozchallenge

    ReplyDelete
  4. My you're a busy blogger. This is a very beautiful poem. Would love to write like this :)

    Universal Gibberish

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  5. I'm sitting here shivering and blowing my nose endlessly while thinking about how nice a warm mug of chamomile tea sounds at this point!

    ReplyDelete