The Pleiades

LAST night I saw the Pleiades again,  

 Faint as a drift of steam  

   From some tall chimney-stack;  

And I remembered you as you were then:  

 Awoke dead worlds of dream,          

   And Time turned slowly back.  

I saw the Pleiades through branches bare,  

 And close to mine your face  

   Soft glowing in the dark;  

For Youth and Hope and Love and You were there          

 At our dear trysting-place  

   In that bleak London park.  

And as we kissed the Pleiades looked down  

 From their immeasurable  

   Aloofness in cold Space.          

Do you remember how a last leaf brown  

 Between us flickering fell  

   Soft on your upturned face?  

Last night I saw the Pleiades again,  

 Here in the alien South,          

   Where no leaves fade at all;  

And I remembered you as you were then,  

 And felt upon my mouth  

   Your leaf-light kisses fall!  

The Pleiades remember and look down          

 On me made old with grief,  

   Who then a young god stood,  

When you—now lost and trampled by the Town,  

 A lone wind-driven leaf,—  

   Were young and sweet and good!