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

— William Jay Smith

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Notes from Wikiquote

Cf. W. H. Auden, "As I Walked Out One Evening" (1937)

More quotes by William Jay Smith

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

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

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

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

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

All William Jay Smith quotes →

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: William Jay Smith (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.