I wondered why that set

Of Mediterranean sky

Was domed between these whirls of weather we get,

 

Why, through the jibs

Of the low oaks, the sun-shafts

Kept digging me in the ribs,

 

Why I could feel

The shock of spring seas bursting against a far coast

Vibrant under my heel –

 

The sudden toil

Of all kinds of coming-alive things

Stirring in the soil.

 

What was it the breeze

Whispered

 As it soft-footed through the trees,

 

And tried to tell

The clumsy brook,

Clambering down the dell.

 

I couldn`t understand

Why the old lady, secretly,

Smiled behind her hand -

 

Why that squiggle

Of schoolgirls down the lane

Started to giggle.

 

(With the bright

Eye of every child

A twinkling festival of light)

 

And then the shout

At the town`s edge –

Why was everyone out -

 

The air

Of coming carnival

 Everywhere.

 

I could see

There was a joke about,

And it was on me,

 

By the sly

Chuckles and grins

As I went by.

 

Then the crush,

With me in the midst,

The sudden hush -

 

The cleared lane

As all fell back,

Necks a-crane.

 

Then I heard

A clack of heel on cobble,

Something stirred

 

And like a clap of thunder

The truth struck –

No more wonder.

 

For I knew

Who it was round the corner of the street

Would swing – like a sail round a headland - into view

 

The sound of her footsteps running on before,

Pounding

At my hearts door,

 

Vied

With the answer – pounding from within –

I was flung wide,

 

Left to stand

An open city

At her command.

 

And so she entered in, and the metronome

Of the past, dead, wasted, time of waiting stopped,

She`s home…she`s home!