Classic Poem

`Where'er you walk
Cool gales shall fan that glade'

The Pierhead where you walked will be made a park
restricted to lovers under 27
Peasants will be found merrymaking after the storm in
Canning St where you walked
The station where we first arrived at night
Will be preserved for the nation With the echo of your footsteps still sounding in the empty
roof

`Where'er you tread
The Blushing flower shall rise'

The alleyway where we read poems to dustbins after closing time
The kitchens where we quarrelled at parties
The kitchen where two strangers first kissed at a party full of strangers
The ticket barrier where we said goodnight so many times
The cobblestones in front of the station
The pub where the kindly old waiter
Always knows what we want to drink -
ALL SHALL BURST INTO BLOOM
SPROUTING FLOWERS BRIGHTER THAN PLASTIC ONES
IN WOOLWORTHS
Daffodils and chrysanthemums, rhododendrons and
snowdrops, tulips and roses
cobblestones bursting with lilies­of­the­valley

`And all things flourish'

Whole streets where you walk are paved with soft grass
so the rain will never go through your shoes again
Zebra crossings made of lilies
Belisha beacons made of orange blossom
Bus stops huge irises
Traffic lights made of snapdragons
`Trees where you sit
Shall crowd into a shade'

even in Piccadilly
stations covered in flowers yellow like the paint you once
got in your hair
Oak trees growing everywhere we've kissed
Will still be there when I've forgotten what you look like
And you don't remember me at all
Copies of your letters to me on blue paper
Written on the sky by an aeroplane over all the cities of
England
Copies of your poems stamped on eggs instead of lions
We will walk forever in the darkness under fern leaves
`Trees where you sit shall crowd into a shade'