The Pleiades

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 !