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The Lavender Feast at Saullt
Everything blue on the plain and the fast-fading light
blue on the shimmering hill and the perfume of night
Early from farm and from hill and from hamlet they came
gaudy with pots and with pans screaming poultry and game
Bringing their lavender in scented honey in jars
scattering stalks in the path of the sweltering cars
Flashing on windows and glasses close columns of air
reek of the goat-cheese and wine and the howl of the fair
Then the long tales in the bars while the sun in the street
is hammering down on the stalls in crescendo of heat
And after the long afternoon from Ardeche and Provence
red and white wines and the thrill of the wild swirling dance
Wild with excitement and din no-one cares that the blue
twilight is veiling the pines on the slopes of Ventoux
1988