Hymn from a Watermelon Pavilion

written by


« Reload image

You dweller in the dark cabin,
To whom the watermelon is always purple, 
Whose garden is wind and moon,

Of the two dreams, night and day,
What lover, what dreamer, would choose 
The one obscured by sleep?

Here is the plantain by your door 
And the best cock of red feather 
That crew before the clocks.

A feme may come, leaf-green, 
Whose coming may give revel 
Beyond revelries of sleep,

Yes, and the blackbird spread its tail, 
So that the sun may speckle, 
While it creaks hail.

You dweller in the dark cabin, 
Rise, since rising will not waken, 
And hail, cry hail, cry hail.

© Edwin Muir