Centaurs and Centauresses

William Walton

"We bear velvet cream.

Green and babyish

Small leaves seem; each stream

Horses' tails that swish,

And the chimes remind

Us of sweet birds singing,

Like the Jangling bells,

On rose trees ringing.

Man must say farewells

To parents now,

And to William Tell

And to Mrs Cow.

Man must say farewells

To storks and Bettes,

And to roses, 'bells,

And statuettes,

Forests white and black

In spring are blue

With forget-me-nots,

And to lovers true

Still the sweet bird begs

And tries to cozen

Them: -- Buy angels' eggs

Sold by the dozen. --

Gone are clouds like inns

On the gardens' brinks,

And the mountain djinns,-

Ganymede sells drinks;

While the days seem grey,

And his heart of ice,

Grey as chamois, or

The edelweiss,

And the mountain streams

Like cowbells sound-

Tirra lirra, drowned

In the waiter's dreams

Who has gone beyond

The forest waves,

While his true and fond

Ones seek their graves."