Monday 30th December 2024
Mistletoe by Walter de la Mare (1873-1956)
Sitting under the mistletoe
(Pale-green, fairy mistletoe),
One last candle burning low,
All the sleepy dancers gone,
Just one candle burning on,
Shadows lurking everywhere:
Some one came, and kissed me there.
Tired I was; my head would go
Nodding under the mistletoe
(Pale-green, fairy mistletoe),
No footsteps came, no voice, but only,
Just as I sat there, sleepy, lonely,
Stooped in the still and shadowy air
Lips unseen—and kissed me there.
I first heard this the other week on BBC Radio 3 - it was the 'Friday Poem' - when I was struck both by the melancholic atmosphere and the occult sensibility.
