To an Early-Flowering Almond [poem by John Shaw Neilson]

[Editor: This poem by John Shaw Neilson was published in Collected Poems of John Shaw Neilson (1934).]

To an Early-Flowering Almond

Gowned as a bride thou art
Caught with the glow,
Giving with ruddy heart
Blood to the snow.

Thou hast come in to make
Dreams to the boy,
Lightly the girl will take
Omens of joy.

Thou hast the taste of all
Sweethearts in Spring,
Thou hast come out to call
Colours to sing.

Low rides the sun above,
Meek as the moon:
Thou art as moist in love
As a love tune.

Still as a bride thou art
In a bride’s gown:
See! an uplifted heart
Beats in a clown.

Source:
John Shaw Neilson (editor: R. H. Croll), Collected Poems of John Shaw Neilson, Melbourne: Lothian Publishing Company, 1934 [May 1949 reprint], page 119