Camomile Tea
~ 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 camomile 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
The black and round and plain to see.
Image: Another era. Adelaide Botanic Garden.
The Adelaide Botanic Garden was opened to the public in 1857. In planning the layout, the garden's first Superintendent, Mr George Francis, is said to have been influenced by those at the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew in England and Versailles in France, together with certain German and Dutch stylistic influences. Even today, the Adelaide Botanic Garden has a northern European style, also reflected in its nineteenth century buildings.
I'm off spend time in our garden today. You'll find me on the East Lawn by the 'Hoist' Pavilion. The children are up for a spot of badminton. Father will be busy with the paintbrush. Toodles.
