Chronicles of Narnia

Debt

One midnight, deep in starlight still,
I dreamed that I received this bill:
“( . . . . . . . in account with Life):

Five thousand breathless dawns all new;
Five thousand flowers fresh in dew;
Five thousand sunsets wrapped in gold;
One million snow-flakes served ice-cold;
Five quiet friends; one baby’s love;
One white-mad sea with clouds above;
One hundred music-haunted dreams
Of moon-drenched roads and hurrying streams;
Of prophesying winds, and trees;
Of silent stars and browsing bees;
One still night in a fragrant wood;
One heart that loved and understood.”
I wondered when I waked at day,
How- how in God’s name- I could pay!

~ Cortland Sayres