Poems by Katherine Mansfield

All Poems Original Poems Translations

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Spring Wind in London

I Blow across the stagnant world,

I blow across the sea,

For me, the sailor's flag unfurled,

For me, the uprooted tree.

My challenge to the world is hurled;

The world must bow to me.

I drive the clouds across the sky,

I huddle them like sheep;

by Katherine Mansfield

Covering Wings

Love! Love! Your tenderness,

Your beautiful, watchful ways

Grasp me, fold me, cover me;

I lie in a kind of daze,

Neither asleep nor yet awake,

Neither a bud nor flower.

Brings to-morrow

Joy or sorrow,

by Katherine Mansfield

A Little Boy's Dream

To and fro, to and fro

In my little boat I go

Sailing far across the sea

All alone, just little me.

And the sea is big and strong

And the journey very long.

To and fro, to and fro

In my little boat I go.

by Katherine Mansfield

A Little Girl's Prayer

Grant me the moment, the lovely moment

That I may lean forth to see

The other buds, the other blooms,

The other leaves on the tree:

That I may take into my bosom

The breeze that is like his brother,

But stiller, lighter, whose faint laughter

Exhoes the joy of the other.

by Katherine Mansfield

Across The Red Sky

Across the red sky two birds flying,

Flying with drooping wings.

Silent and solitary their ominous flight.

All day the triumphant sun with yellow banners

Warred and warred with the earth, and when she yielded

Stabbed her heart, gathered her blood in a chalice,

Spilling it over the evening sky.

When the dark plumaged birds go flying, flying,

by Katherine Mansfield

Out in the Garden

Out in the garden,

Out in the windy, swinging dark,

Under the trees and over the flower-beds,

Over the grass and under the hedge border,

Someone is sweeping, sweeping,

Some old gardener.

Out in the windy, swinging dark,

Someone is secretly putting in order,

by Katherine Mansfield

A Day in Bed

I wish I had not got a cold,

The wind is big and wild,

I wish that I was very old,

Not just a little child.

Somehow the day is very long

Just keeping here, alone;

I do not like the big wind's song,

He's growling for a bone

by Katherine Mansfield

When I was a Bird

I climbed up the karaka tree

Into a nest all made of leaves

But soft as feathers.

I made up a song that went on singing all by itself

And hadn't any words, but got sad at the end.

There were daisies in the grass under the tree.

I said just to try them:

"I'll bite off your heads and give them to my little

by Katherine Mansfield

A Few Rules for Beginners

Babies must not eat the coal

And they must not make grimaces,

Nor in party dresses roll

And must never black their faces.

They must learn that pointing's rude,

They must sit quite still at table,

And must always eat the food

Put before them—if they're able.

by Katherine Mansfield

Winter Song

Rain and wind, and wind and rain.

Will the Summer come again?

Rain on houses, on the street,

Wetting all the people's feet,

Though they run with might and main.

Rain and wind, and wind and rain.

Snow and sleet, and sleet and snow.

Will the Winter never go?

by Katherine Mansfield

Camomile Tea

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.

by Katherine Mansfield

Very Early Spring

The fields are snowbound no longer;

There are little blue lakes and flags of tenderest green.

The snow has been caught up into the sky—

So many white clouds—and the blue of the sky is cold.

Now the sun walks in the forest,

He touches the bows and stems with his golden fingers;

They shiver, and wake from slumber.

Over the barren branches he shakes his yellow curls.

by Katherine Mansfield