At Fontainebleau

Arthur Symons

1865 to 1945

Poem Image

It was a day of sun and rain,
     Uncertain as a child’s quick moods;
And I shall never pass again
     So blithe a day among the woods.

The forest knew you and was glad,
     And laughed for very joy to know
Her child was with her; then, grown sad,
     She wept, because her child must go.

And you would spy and you would capture
     The shyest flower that lit the grass:
The joy I had to watch your rapture
     Was keen as even your rapture was.

The forest knew you and was glad,
     And laughed and wept for joy and woe.
This was the welcome that you had
     Among the woods of Fontainebleau.