William Jay Smith Quotes

And life is a rain-swept mirror </br> Through which perpetually </br> A girl with bright hair flowing, </br> Dappled dark coat blowing, </br> Into the unknown, knowing, </br> Walks with me.

Thinking of you this evening, </br> I think of mystery; </br> I think of umbrellas of crystal </br> Shading a cinnamon sea;

Now touch the air softly, </br> Step gently. One, two... </br> I’ll love you till roses </br> Are robin’s-egg blue; </br> I’ll love you till gravel </br> Is eaten for bread, </br> And lemons are orange, </br> And lavender’s red.

The long-haired Yak has long black hair, </br> He lets it grow — he doesn't care. </br> He lets it grow and grow and grow, </br> He lets it trail along the stair. </br> Does he ever go to the barbershop? NO! </br> How wild and woolly and devil-may-care </br> A long-haired Yak with long black hair </br> Would look when perched in a barber chair!

Tasting of the sweet damp woods and of the rain one inch </br> above the meadow: It was like feasting upon air.

The lariat snaps; the cowboy rolls </br> His pack, and mounts and rides away. </br> Back to the land the cowboy goes.

Not ringed but rare, not gilled but polyp-like, </br> having sprung up overnight— These mushrooms of the gods, resembling human organs </br> uprooted, rooted only on the air,

He hangs in the hall by his black cravat, </br> The ladies faint, and the children holler: </br> Only my Daddy could look like that, </br> And I love my Daddy like he loves his Dollar.

A silver-scaled dragon with jaws flaming red </br> Sits at my elbow and toasts my bread. </br> I hand him fat slices, and then, one by one, </br> He hands them back when he sees they are done.

I know a place all fennel-green and fine </br> Far from the white ice cap, the glacial flaw, </br> Where shy mud hen and dainty porcupine </br> Dance in delight by a quivering pawpaw;

And I’ll love you as long </br> As the furrow the plow, </br> As However is Ever, </br> And Ever is Now.