at lunch parties before the war

"There has fallen a splendid tear

From the passion-flower at the gate.

She is coming, my dove, my dear;

She is coming, my life, my fate;

The red rose cries, "She is near, she is near";

And the white rose weeps, "She is late";

The larkspur listens, "I hear, I hear";

And the lily whispers, "I wait."

"My heart is like a singing bird

Whose nest is in a water'd shoot;

My heart is like an apple tree

Whose boughs are bent with thick-set fruit;

My heart is like a rainbow shell

That paddles in a halsyon sea;

My heart is gladder than all these

Because my love is come to me."

-Virginia Woolf

"A Room of One's Own"