VERS TRES LIBRE.

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(Arabesque on a field of blue).

These are the things, or gorgeous or delicate,

Imposing, intime, dazzling or repellent,

That sing—better than music's self,

Better than rhyme—

The praise and liberty of blue:

The turquoise and the peacock's neck,

The blood of kings, the deeps

Of Southern lakes, the sky

That bends over the Azores,

The language of the links, the eyes

Of fair-haired angels, the

Policeman's helmet and the backs

Of books issued by the Government,

Also the Bird of Happiness (Maeterlinck)

And many other things such as

The Varsity colours, various kinds

Of pottery and limelight,

Some things by Swinburne, Burns and Ezra Pound,

The speedwell in the glade, and, oh!

The little cubes they put in wash-tubs.

Refrain.

These are the things, or gorgeous or delicate,

And so on down to "liberty of blue."





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