Azure and Gold

April had covered the hills
With flickering¹ yellows and reds,
The sparkle and coolness of snow
Was blown from the mountain beds.
Across a deep-sunken stream
The pink of blossoming trees,
And from windless appleblooms
The humming of many bees.
The air was of rose and gold
Arabesqued with the song of birds
Who, swinging unseen under leaves,
Made music more eager than words.
Of a sudden, aslant² the road,
A brightness to dazzle and stun,
A glint of the bluest blue,
A flash from a sapphire³ sun.

Blue-birds so blue, 't was a dream,
An impossible, unconceived hue,
The high sky of summer dropped down
Some rapturous ocean to woo.
Such a colour, such infinite light!
The heart of a fabulous⁴ gem,
Many-faceted, brilliant and rare.
Centre Stone of the earth's diadem⁵!
.    .   
.    .    .
Centre Stone of the Crown of the World,
"Sincerity" graved on your youth!
And your eyes hold the blue-bird flash,
The sapphire shaft⁶, which is truth.