LETTERS TO SIR JOHN MIDDLETON MURRY

Katherine Mansfield

(audio not available)

I think the time has come,

It really has come for us to do a little courting.

Have we ever had time to stand under trees and tell our love?

Or to sit down by the sea and make fragrant zones for each other?

Do you know the peculiar exquisite scent of a tea-rose?

Do you know how the bud opens –

So unlike other roses and how deep red the thorns are

And almost purple the leaves?

Wander with me ten years – will you, darling?

Ten years in the sun.

It’s not long – only ten springs.