Meet me at the dial in the garden, Meet me at the fountain in Seville; Meet me at the Camel Mosque in Mecca— Leave your bonny brogans on the sill.
Meet me 'neath the stars in Salamanca, Meet me on the sidewalk in the moon; Meet me at the dial in the garden Any time along the afternoon.
Nathalia Crane's «The Sun-Dial» is one long, cheerful invitation. The speaker keeps saying the same thing, "Meet me," and each time names a different place: a garden dial, a fountain in Seville, a mosque in Mecca, the stars over Salamanca, a moonlit sidewalk. The settings leap across continents and even between day and night, yet the poem always circles back to the garden dial, as if everything else were a daydream and that humble spot were the real meeting place.
The speaker seems eager, playful, and a little bossy in a charming way. The request to leave "bonny brogans on the sill" is a small, homely detail that sits oddly beside all the exotic locations, and it makes the whole thing feel light rather than solemn. The repeated phrasing works like a chant or a song refrain, and the mood is warm, dreamy, and wonderfully loose. Even the time is vague: "any time along the afternoon." The poem doesn't demand precision, only that you come.