Gift of Sight

by Robert Graves

I had long known the diverse tastes of the wood,

Each leaf, each bark, rank earth from every hollow;

Knew the smells of bird’s breath and of bat’s wing;

Yet sight I lacked: until you stole upon me,

Touching my eyelids with light finger-tips.

The trees blazed out, their colours whirled together,

Nor ever before had I been aware of sky.

From “Erotic Poems,” selected and edited by Peter Washington (Everyman’s Library/Alfred A. Knopf: 286 pp., $10.95)