Now touch the air softly，/Step gently， One， two. . ./I ll love you till roses and robin s-egg blue;/I ll love you till gravel/Is eaten for bread，/And lemons are orange，/And lavender s red. So begins "A Pavane for the Nursery，" one of William Jay Smith s most celebrated and charming love poems. Collected here for the first time are this and many more of Smith s enchanting paeans to love， a bevy of bewitched words of the sort no loved one could ever hear enough. Whether committed to a delighted reader s memory， recited out loud at a romantic wedding， or set to music by a love-struck composer (as Ned Rorem has done)， the poems in this intimate book， illustrated by the late Ukrainian woodcut master Jacques Hnizdovsky， bespeak love in a variety of forms. Also included are striking translations of such poets as Frederico Garcia Lorca and Jacques Prevert. A most gifted and original poet ... One of the very few who cannot be confused with anybody else. --Richard Wilbur [Smith] is rooted in the concrete and the sensuous--in sight， sound， and touch ... That he has written poems replete with rhythm， rhyme， wit， and melody ... is cause for celebration， homage， and gratitude. --Elizabeth Frank， "The Atlantic Monthly" Poetry by William Jay Smith. Illustrations by Jacques Hnizdovsky. 5.5 x 6.5 in. 31 b/w illustrations