They're solId bone You can
amputate
from Just above The medulla, and It won't alter the hfe m that Island .
Cantos-of-Ezra-Pound
Here' thIS IS what we took out of you"
An' he looked at It, an' he got better,
And when he left the hospItal, qUIt the drmk, And when he was well enough
SIgned on WIth another shIp And saved up rus pay money,
and kept on savm' hIS pay money, And bought a share in the srup,
and finally had half shares, Then a srup
and m tune a whole hne of steamers, And educated the kId,
and when the kId was m college, The ole satior was agam taken bad
and the doctors saId he was dymg, And the boy came to the bedSIde,
and the old satior saId
~. Boy, I'm sorry I can't hang on a bIt longer, . . You're young yet
I leave you re-sponsa-blhttes
. . . Wish I could ha' WaIted till you were older, . . . More fit to take over the bISness . .
. . But, father,
c'Don't, don't talk about me, I'm all nght, C'It's you, father"
. . That's It, boy, you Said It 56
? . . You called me your father, and I aIn't
. . I a111't your dad, no,
. . I am not your fader but your moder," quod he, cc Your fader was a rIch merchant 111 Stambouli ,.
57
? XIII
K NGWalked
by the dynastIc temple
and Into the ced'1r grove,
and then out by the lower Civer,
And wIth hIm KhIeu, Tchl
and Tlan the low speakIng
And tt we are unknown," saId Kung, u Y ou will take up chanoteenng)
Then you WIll become known,
. . Or perhaps I should take up charioteerIng, or archery)
It Or the praCtice of pubhc speakIng) "
And Tseu-Iou saId, . . I would put the defences In order," And Khleu Said, . . If I were lord of a prOVInce
I would put It In better order than thIS IS "
And Tchl saId, cc I would prefer a small mountaIn temple, . . Wlth order U l the observances,
Wlth a sUItable performance of the ntual," And Tlan saId, Wlth hIS hand on the strIngs of hIS lute The low sounds contInu1llg
after hIS h'lnd left the strmgs,
And the sound went up lIke smoke, under the leaves, And he looked after the sound
. c The old SWImming hole,
. . And the boys flopping off the planks,
. . Or SItting In the underbrush plaYing mandolms "
And Kung smtled upon all of them equally And Thseng-sie deSIred to know
. . WhIch had answered correctly)"
And Kung saId, . . They have all answered correctly, to That IS to say, each Ul hIS nature"
And Kung ralSed hIS cane agaInst Yuan Jang,
Yuan lang beIng hIS elder, 58
? For Yuan Jang sat by the roadsIde pretendmg to be reCeIVIng wIsdom
And Kung saId
. . You old fool, come out of It,
Get up and do somethIng useful . . And Kung s:ud
. . Respect a chtld's facultIes
. . From the moment It Inhales the clear aIr, . . But a man of fifty who knows nothmg
Is worthy of no respect"
A nd" When the prInce has gathered about hIm
. . All the savants and artISts, hIS rIches wtll be fully mployed" And Kung saId, and wrote on the bo leaves
If a man have not order WIthIn rum He can not spread order about hIm,
And If a man have not order WIthIn hIm HIs famtly WIll not act WIth due order,
And 1f the prInce have not order withm hun He can not put order In hIS domlD1ons
And Kung gave the words . . order"
and co brotherly deference"
And saId nothIng of the . . hfe after death . . And he saId
cc Anyone can run to excesses, It 15 easy to shoot past the mark,
It IS hard to stand nrm In the mIddle . .
And they saId If a man commIt murder
Should hIS father protect hun, and rude hun'
And Kung SaId
He should hIde hun
And Kung gave rus daughter to Kong-Tch'ang Although Kong-Tch'ang was 10 prlSon
And he gave hts mece to Nan-Young
although Nan-Young was out of office
59
? And Kung said <<Wang ruled with moderation, In hiS day the State was well kept,
And even I can remember
A day when the hlstonans left blanks 10 their wrltmgs, I mean for thmgs they didn't know,
But that time seems to be passmg . .
And Kung said, . . Wlthout character you will
be unable to play on that mstrument Or to execute the mUSlC fit for the Odes
The blossoms of the apncot
blow from the east to the west, And I have tried to keep them from fallIng . .
60
? XIV
10 venru In luogo d'ogru luce muto,
The stench of wet coal, pohtlClans
e and n, their wrists bound to
their ankles, Standmg bare bum,
Faces smeared on their rumps, Wide eye on flat buttock,
Bush hangmg for beard,
Addressmg crowds through their arse-holes,
Addressmg the multttudes m the ooze, newts, water-slugs, water-maggots,
And With them r,
a scrupulously clean table-napktn
Tucked under hIs perus,
and m
Who dtshked colloqwal language, Sttff-starched, but soded, collars
clrcumscrIbmg hIS legs, The pImply and hairy skm
pushmg over the collar's edge,
Profiteers drmkmg blood sweetened With sh-t, And behmd them f and the finanCIers
lashmg them Wlth steel Wires
And the betrayers of language
n and the press gang
And those who had hed for hire,
the perverts, the perverters of language,
the perverts, who have set money-lust Before the pleasures of the senses,
howlmg, as of a hen-yard m a prmtIng-house, the clatter of presses,
61
? the bloWIng of dry dust and stray paper, ftttor, sweat, the stench of stale oranges, dung, last cess-pool of the umverse, mystenum, aCid of sulphur,
the pusillammous, ragIng, plungIng Jewels xn mud,
and howhng to find them unstaIned,
sadlc mothers driVIng their daughters to bed wIth decrepItude, sows eatIng their lItters,
and here the placard EIKn~ rH~,
and here THE PERSONNEL CHANGES,
meltmg hke dIrty wax,
decayed candles, the bums smkIng lower,
faces submerged under hams, And In the ooze under them, reversed, foot-palm to foot-palm,
hand-palm to hand-palm, the agents provocateurs The murderers of Pearse and MacDonagh,
Captam H the chief torturer, The petrIfied turd that was Verres,
b1gots, CalVIn and St Clement of Alexandna' black-beetles, burrowmg Into the sh-t,
The sou a decrepitude, the ooze full of morsels,
lost contours, eroSIons
Above the hell-rot the great arse-hole,
broken With pues, hangmg stalactItes,
greasy as sky over Westmxnster, the mVlSlble, many Enghsh,
the place lackmg m Interest, last squalor, utter decrepItude,
62.
? the VIce-crusaders, fahrtmg through stlk, waVIng the ChrlStlan symbols,
frIggIng a tm penny whIstle,
FlIes carrymg news, harpIes dnppmg sh-t through the alt,
The slough of unamlable hars, bog of stupldtnes,
malevolent stupldlnes, and stupIdItIes, the sot! hvmg pus, full of vetmln, dead maggots begettmg lIve maggots,
slum owners,
usurers squeeZIng crab-hce, pandars to authorIty, pets-de-Ioup, sltnng on pt! es of stone books, obscurmg the texts WIth pht! ology,
htdmg them under thelt persons, the aIr WIthout refuge of st! ence,
the dnft of ! tce, teetrung, and above It the mouthmg of orators,
the arse-belcrung of preachers
And Invlrua,
the corruptto, fretor, fungus,
hqwd anImals, melted ossmcatlons, slow rot, frend combustIOn,
chewed CIgar-butts, Without dIgnIty, WIthout tragedy, m EplSCOpUS, wavmg a condom full of black-beetles,
monopohsts, obstructors of knowledge, obstructors of dlstnbutlon
? xv
TEiE saccharescent, lymg 10 glucose,
the pompous 10 cotton wool
With a stench hke the fats at Grasse,
the great scabrous arse-hole, sh-ttmg flles, rumbhng Wlth Imperlahsm,
ultunate unnal, mlddan, plSswa110w Without a cloaca,
r less rowdy,
EP1SCOpUS
SlS,
head down, screwed Into the swlll,
h1S legs waVlD. g and pustular,
a clerlcal Jock strap hangmg back over the navel
h1S condom full of black beedes,
ta"ttoo marks round the anus, and a CIrcle of lady golfers about htm
the courageous Vlolent
slashmg themselves With kruves,
the cowardly mClters to vlolence
nand h eaten by weeVIls,
11 hke a swollen fO! :tus,
the beast wlth a hundred legs, USURA
and the sWllI full of respecters,
bOWIng to the lords of the place,
explammg Its advantages,
and the laudatores tempons actI
clalmlng that the sh-t used to be blacker and rlcher
and the fabtans cry10g for the petnficatIon of putrefaction, for a new dung-flow cut In lozenges,
the conservatives chattlllg,
dlStlngwhed by gatters of slum-flesh, and the back-scratchers 10 a great rucle,
complalllmg of msuffiClent attention, 64
? the search WithOut end, counterclaxm for the mlSslDg scratch the lItigious,
a green bIle-sweat, the news owners, S
the anonymous :? fe, broken
hxs head shot hke a cannon-ball toward the glass gate, peermg through It an mstant,
fallmg back to the trunk, epileptIc, et nulla :6. dentla mter eos,
all With theIr tWitchmg backs, WIth daggers, and bottle ends, waitIng an
unguarded moment,
a stench, stuck In the nostrxIs, beneath one
nothmg that mIght not move, mobIle earth, a dung hatchmg obscenxtIes,
mchoate error, boredom born out of boredom,
bntish weeklIes, COPIeS of the c, a multIple nn,
and I SaId, co How IS It done) "
and my gwde Tlus sort breeds by sClSslon,
ThIS IS the fourmx1honth tumour
In thIs bolge bores are gathered,
In:6. nxte pUS flakes, scabs of a lastIng pox
skm-flakes, repetItiOns, erOSIons, endless ram from the arse-haIrs, as the earth moves, the centre
passes over all parts m succeSSIon, a contInual bum-belch
dIstrIbutIng Its productIons 65
? Andlamo'
One's feet sunk,
the welsh of mud gnpped one, no hand-rail, the bog-suck lIke a whIrl-pool,
and he SaId
Close the pores of your feet' And my eyes clung to the hOrIzon,
od mIXIng WIth soot, and agam PlotInus
To the door,
Keep your eyes on the mIrror
Prayed we to the Medusa,
petnfymg the sod by the shIeld,
HoldIng It downward
he hardened the track
Inch before us, by Inch,
the matter reSIStIng,
The heads rose from the shIeld, lussmg, held downwards
Devounng maggots,
the face only half potent,
The serpents' tongues
grazmg the swt11 top,
Hammermg the souse mto hardness, the narrow rast,
Half the WIdth of a sword's edge
By tlus through the dem eVIl,
now smkmg, now chngmg,
Holdmg the unsInkable shteld
ObhVlon,
forget how long, sleep, faIntIng nausea
. . Whether 10 NaIShapur or Babylon " I heard In the dream
PlotInus gone,
66
? And the shIeld tIed under me, woke, The gate swung on Its hlnges, Pantlng hke a sIck dog, staggered, Bathed In alkalI, and In aCId
'H~MOll T' 'HE~Wll
blInd Wlth the sunlIght,
Swollen-eyed, rested,
lIds SInkIng, darkness unconsCIous
? XVI
}f. D before hell mouth, dry plam and two mountams,
On the one mountaIn, a runn10g form, and another
In the tum of the htll, In hard steel The road lIke a slow screw's thread, The angle almost 1lllperceptlble,
so that the CircUlt seemed hardly to rISe, And the runnmg form, naked, Blake,
Shoutmg, whlrlmg hiS arms, the sWift hmbs, Howlmg agaInst the evtl,
rus eyes rollmg, Wlurhng lIke flammg cart-wheels,
and hlS head held backward to gaze on the eVil As he ran from It,
to be hid by the steel mountam,
And when he showed agaIn from the north SIde,
hlS eyes blazmg toward hell mouth, HIS neck. forward,
and hke hun Pelre Cardmal And 10 the west mountam, II Florentmo, Seemg hell 10 hiS mirror,
and 10 Sordels Loolung on It 10 rus shIeld,
And Augustme, gaZlng toward the mVlSlble
And past them, the crlm1nal
lymg 10 blue lakes of aCId,
The road between the two hills, upward slowly,
The flames patterned 10 lacquer, crImen est actIO, The lImbo of chopped Ice and saw-dust,
68
? And I batked myself With the aCid to free myself of the hell bcks,
Scales, fallen louse eggs Palux Laerna,
the lake of bodies, aqua morta,
of I1mbs fluid, and mIngled, hke fuh heaped In a bIn,
and here an arm upward, clutchmg a fragment of marble, And the embryos, In flux,
new Inflow, submergIng,
Here an arm upward, trout, submerged by the eels,
and from the bank, the stiff herbage
the dry nobbled path, saw many known, and unknown, for an mstant,
submergmg, The face gone, generation
Then hght aIr, under saplmgs, the blue banded lake under rether,
an OasiS, the stones, the calm field, the grass qwet,
and passmg the tree of the bough The grey stone posts,
and the staIr of gray stone, the passage clean-squared In granite
descendmg,
and I through thIS, and mto the earth,
patet terra, entered the qwet aIr
the new sky,
the hght as after a sun-set,
and by theIr fountaInS, the heroes, Slgxsmundo, and Malatesta Novello,
and founders, gazmg at the mounts of thClr CItIes
The plaIn, dIStance, and In fount-pools the nymphs of that water
69
? nsmg, spreachng theIr garlands,
weavmg theIr water reeds WIth the boughs,
In the qUIet,
and now one man rose from hIs fountam
and went off mto the plaIn
Prone 10 that grass, m sleep, et j'entendls des VOIX
Galhffet led that tnple charge and he saId
wall Strasbourg PrUSSlans
It was for the honour of the army And they called rum a swashbuckler
I dxdn't know what It was
But I thought ThIS IS pretty bloody damn fine And myoid nurse, he was a man nurse, and
He klllcd '\ Prussian and he lay m the stleet there 11l tront of our house for three days
And he stank
Brother Percy, And our Brother Percy ?
old Admtral
He was a middy In those days,
And they came mto Ragusa
place those men went for the Sxlk War
And they saw a proceSSIon conung down through A cut m the hxlls, carrymg sometrung
The SIX chaps m front carry10g a long thmg
on theIr shoulders,
And they thought It was a funeral,
but the th10g was wrapped up m scarlet, And he put off 10 the cutter,
he was a middy 10 those days, To see what the natIves were dOIng,
And they got up to the SIX fellows m hvery, 70
[Plarr's 1tQf1atzon]
? And they looked at It, and I can stul hear the old admrra" ? ? Was It) It was
Lord Byron
Dead drunk, 'wIth the face of an A y n He pulled It out long, lIke that
the face of an a y n
And because that son of a bItch, Franz Josef of Austna
gel "
And because that son of a bItch Napoleon Barbiche They put Aldmgton on Hul 70, m a trench
dug through corpses With a lot of kIds of SIxteen,
Howhng and crymg for thelt mamas, And he sent a chIt back to hIS major
I can hold out for ten mmutes With my sergeant and a machme-gun
And they rebuked hIm for levity And Henrl GaudIer went to It,
and they kuled hIm,
And kuled a good deal of sculpture,
AndoleTEH hewenttoIt,
WIth a lot of books from the lIbrary,
London LIbrary, and a shell buned 'em In a dug-out, And the LIbrary expressed Its annoyance
And a bullet hit hIm on the elbow gone through the fellow I n front of hIm,
And he read Kant In the HOSPItal, In Wtmbledon, In the orIgInal,
And the hospItal staff dIdn't lIke It
And Wyndham LewIS went to It, WIth a heavy bIt of artulery,
and the aIrmen came by WIth a Mitrailleuse, And cleaned out most of hIS company,
and a shell ht on hIS tIn hut, 7I
? Wlule he was out m the prIVVY,
and he was all there was left of'that outfit
Wmdeler went to It,
and he was out 10 the JEga::an,
And down m the hold of hIS shIp pumpmg gas mto a sausage,
And the boatswam looked over the raxI, down mto amIdshIps, and he saId
Gees' 1001. . a' the Kept'n, The Kept'n's a-gettm' 'er up
And Ole Captam Baker went to It,
WIth rus legs full of rheumatics,
So much so he couldn't run,
so he was SIX months In hospItal,
Observmg the mentahty of the patIents
And Fletcher was 19 when he went to It, And rus major went mad In the control pIt,
about mldmght, and started throWIng the 'phone about And he had to keep rum qUIet
till about SlX In the mornmg, And dIrect that bunch of artIllery
And ErnIe Hem10gway went to It, too much 10 a hurry,
And they buned hun for four days
Et ma fOl, vous savez,
tous les nerveux Non,
Y a une hmlte, les betes, les hetes ne sont
Pas faltes pour ~a, c'est peu de chose un cheval Les hommes de 34 ans a quatre pattes
qUI cnalent . . maman" MalS les costauds,
La :fin, la aVerdun, n'y avalt que ces gros bonshommes
Et y voyuent extremement claIr 72.
? Qu'est-ce que ~a vaut, les generaux, Ie heutenant, on les pese a un centlgramme,
n'y a nen que du bOIs,
Notr' eapltame, tout, tout ee qU'll y a de plus renferme
de Vleux polytechmclen, malS sohde, La tete sohde La, vous savez,
Tout, tout fonctlonne, et les voleurs, tous les VIces, Mals les rapaces,
y avalt trOIS dans notre compagnie, tous tues Y sortalent fouiller un eadavre, pour nen,
y n'seralent sortls pour nen que ~a Et les boches, tout ce que vous voulez,
mlhtansme, et cretera, et ea:tera Tout ~a, malS, MAIS,
l'fran~als, I s'bat quand y a mange MalS ces pauvres types
A la fin y s'attaqualent pour manger,
Sans ordres, les betes sauvages, on y faIt
Pnsonmers, ceux qUl parlalent fran~als dlsalent
<< Poo quah;l Ma fOl on attaqualt pour manger"
C'est Ie eorr-ggras, Ie corps gras,
leurs trams marchalent trOIS kuometres a l'heure,
Et ~a enalt, ~a gnnealt, on l'entendalt acmq kIlometres (<;a qUI fimt la guerre )
Llste officlelle des morts 5,000,000
I vous dlt, be, VOUl, tout sentalt Ie petrole Mals, Non' Je l'al engueule
Je lUl al rut T'es un con' T'a rate la guerre
o VOUl' tous les hommes de gout, y eonVIens, Tout 'Sa en arnere
Mals un mee comme tOI'
73
? C't homme, U'l type comme ~a'
Ce qu'u auralt pu encalsser'
11 etalt dans une fabnque
What, burYing squad, terraSSlers, avec leur tete
en arnere, qUI regardalent comme ~a, On rlSqualt la vie pour un coup de pelle,
Faut que ~a SOlt bIen carre, exact
Dey vus a bolchevuu dere, und dey dease him Looka vat youah Trotzsk 15 done, e lSS
madeh deh zhamefull beace"
. . He ISS madeh deh zhamefull beace, 15S he'>
. . He IS madeh de zhamevul beace) t. A Brest-Lltovsk, yess) Amt yuh herd)
. . He vmneh de vore
t. De droobs 15S released vrom de eastern vront, }ess'> It Un venn dey getts to deb vestern vront, ISS It
t. How many getts dere)
? ? And dose doot getts dere ISS so full off revolutIons
. . Venn deh vrench 15 come dhru, yess, ? ? Dey say, to Vot) " Un de posch say
U Amt yeh heard) Say, ve got a rhetfolutlon"
Thai's the tnck WIth a crowd,
Get 'em lOto the street and get 'em movmg
And all the tune, there were people gomg Down there, over the nver
There was a man there talkIng, To a thousand, JUst a short speech, and Then move 'em on And he saxd
Yes, these people, they are all rIght, they Can do everythmg, everythmg except act,
And go an' hear 'em, but when they are through, Come to the bolshevIkI
74
? And when It broke, there was the crowd there, And the cossacks, Just as always before,
But one thIng, the cossacks sald
. . POJaloulsta "
And that got round In the crowd,
And then a lIeutenant of mfantry Ordered 'em to fire mto the crowd,
m the square at the end of the Nevsk}, In front of d'e Moscow statIon,
And they wouldn't,
And he pulled hIS sword on a student for laughmg, And kIlled hIm,
And a cossack rode out of hIS squad
On the other slde of the square
And cut down the heutenant of Infantry
And that was the revolutlon
a! > soon as they named It
And you can't make 'em,
Nobody knew It was commg They were all ready, the old gang. GUllS on the top of the post-office and the palace,
But none of the leaders knew It was commg
And there were some kIlled at the barracks, But that was between the troops
So we used to hear It at the opera, That they wouldn't be under HaIg,
and that the advance was beglllnmg, That It was gOlllg to begm m a week
75
? XVII
SO that the VInes burst from my fingers And the bees weIghted wIth pollen Move heavIly m the vIne-shoots
chlrr - chlrr - chlr-nkk - a purrIng sound, And the bIrds sleepIly In the branches
ZAGREUS' 10 ZAGREUS I
With the first pale-clear of the hea\en
And the cItIes set In theIr hIlls,
And the goddess of the faIr knees
MOVIng there, WIth the oak-woods behInd her, The green slope, WIth whIte hounds
leapIng about her,
And thence down to the creek's mouth, untIl evenIng,
Flat water before me,
and the trees groWIng In water,
Marble trunks out of stillness, On past the palazzI,
10 the stIllness, The lIght now, not of the sun
Chrysophrase,
And the water green clear, and blue clear,
On, to the great chffs of amber
Cave of Nerea,
she lIke a great shell curved,
Between them,
And the boat drawn Without sound,
Without odour of ship-work,
Nor bIrd-cry, nor any nOise of wave mOVIng,
Nor splash of porpOise, nor any nOlSe of wave movmg, Wlthm her cave, Nerea,
she lIke a great shell curved
76
? In the suavIty of the rock,
eMf green-gray 10 the far, In the near, the gate-clIffs of amber,
And the wave
green clear, and blue clear, And the cave salt-whlte, and glare-purple,
cool, porphyry smooth,
the rock sea-worn No gull-cry, no sound of porpOIse,
Sand as of malachIte, and no cold there, the lIght not of the sun
Zagreus, feed10g hIS panthers,
the turf clear as on hills under lIght
And under the almond-trees, gods,
Wlth them, choras nymph(lTum
Hermes and Athene,
As shaft of compass, Between them, trembled-
To the left IS the place of fauns,
sylva nympharum,
The low wood, moor-scrub,
the doe, the young spotted deer,
leap up through the broom-plants, as dry leaf amld yellow
And by one cut of the hIlls,
the great alley of Memnons
Beyond, sea, crests seen over dune NIght sea churnmg shmgle,
To the left, the alley of cypress
Gods,
One man holdmg her saIl,
77
A boat came,
? GUIdmg her wIth oar caught over gunwale, saymg
. . There, m the forest of malble,
. . the stone trees- out of water-
It the arbours of stone-
. .
. . . . . .
marble leaf, over leaf,
slIver, steel o"el steel,
slIver beaks nsmg and crossmg, prow set agamst prow,
. . stone, ply over ply,
. . the gIlt beams flare of an evenIng" Borso, Carmagnola, the men of craft, , mtret, ThIther, at one tIme, tIme after tIme,
And the waters rIcher than glass,
Bronze gold, the blaze over the slIver, Dye-pots In the torch-hght,
The flash of wave under prows,
And the stiver beaks rlSIng and crossmg
Stone trees, whIte and rose-whIte In the darkness,
Cypress there by the towers,
Drift under hulls I n the nIght
tt In the gloom the gold Gathers the hght about It"
Now supme m burrow, half over-arched bramble, One eye for the sea, through that peek-hole, Gray hght, With Athene
Zothar and her elephants, the gold 10m-cloth, The SIStrum, shaken, shaken,
the cohorts of her dancers And Aletha, by bend of the shore,
With her eyes seaward, and In her hands sea-wrack
Salt-bnght Wlth the foam
Kore through the bnght meadow,
With green-gray dust In the grass 78
? . . For this hour, brother of ellce "
Arm laid over my shoulder,
Saw the sun for three days, the sun fulvld, As a hon hft over sand-plam,
and that day, And for three days, and nOlle after,
Splendour, as the splendour of Hermes, And shIpped thence
to the stone place, Pale whIte, over water,
known water,
And the whIte forest of marble, bent bough over bough,
The pleached arbour of stone,
ThIther Borso, when they shot the barbed arrow at hun, And Carmagnola, between the two columns, SlgISmundo, after that wreck 10 Dalmatla
Sunset lIke the grasshopper flYIng
79
? XVIII
1\Dof Kublal
I have told you of that emperor's city 1Il detw And wtll tell you of the cOllllllg m Cambaluc
that hyght the secret of alchemy They take bast of the mulberry-tree,
That 15 a sklll between the wood and the bark, And of thIS they make paper, and mark It
Half a tornesel, a tornesel, or a half-groat of stIver, Or two groats, or five groats, or ten groats,
Or, for a great sheet, a gold bezant, 3 bezants, ten bezants,
And they are wrItten on by offiCIals,
And smeared WIth the great khan's seallll vermlixon, And the forgers are punIshed WIth death
And all thts costs the Kahn nothmg,
And so he IS rIch 1Il thIS world
And hIS postmen go sewed up and sealed up,
TheIr coats buttoned behllld and then sealed,
In thlS way from the voyage's one end to Its other And the IndIan merchants arrIvmg
Must gtve up theIr Jewels, and take thIS money
In paper,
(That trade runs, 1Il bezants, to 400,000 the year)
And the nobles must buy theIr pearls" - thus Messlre Polo, pnson at Genoa-
ct Of the Emperor"
There was a boy 1Il ConstantInople,
And some bntlSher kIcked hIS arse
cc I hate these french," saxd Napoleon, aged 12,
To young Bournenne, cc I Will do them all the harm
that I can"
In hke manner Zenos Metevsky
U
80
? And old BIers w~s out thele, a greenhorn,
To sell cannon, and Metevsky found the back door, And old BIers sold the mUnItIOns,
And Metevsky dIed and was buned, t e offiCIally, And sat 10 the Yemer Kafe watchmg the funeral
About ten years after thIS InCIdent, He owned a faIr chunk of Humbers
t< PeaceI Pleyce' I " saId Mr Glddmgs, "Um-ver-saP Not whIle yew got tew bIllIons ov money," SaId Mr GIdd1Ogs, " 10vested In the man-u-facture
" Of war machInery Haow I sold It to RUSSIa -
" Well we tuk 'em a new torpedo-boat,
. . And It was all electnc, run It all from a
" LIttle bIt uv a keyboard, about lIke the SIze ov . . A typewrIter, and the pnnce come aboard,
. . An' we sez wud yew hke to run her~
. . And he run damn slam on the breakwater,
? ? And bust off all her front end,
? ? And he was my gawd scared out of hIS pantIes ? ? Who wuz agom' tew pay fer the damage'
. . And It was my first tnp out fer the company, ? ? And I sez, yer hIghness, It IS nothIng,
? ? We WIll gIve yew a new one And, my Chnstl
? ? The company backed me, and dId we get a few orders) ,. So La Marquesa de las ZOJas y Hurbara
Used to dnve up to SIr Zenos's place
10 the Champs Elysees
And presIde at hIS dInners, and at las once
She drove away from the front dool, WIth her footmen And her coachman In lIvery, and drove four blocks round To the back door, and her husband was the son of a bItch, And Metevsky, ? ? the well-known phIlanthropIst,"
Or ? ? the well-known financIer, better known,"
As the press saId, ? ? as a phIlanthropIst,"
Gave - as the Este to LOUIS Eleventh,-
8I
? A fine paIr of gIraffes to the natIon, And endowed a chaIr of balhstlcs,
And was consulted before the offens1ves
And Mr Olge was very cholenc m a first-class From Nlce to Pans, he saId tc Dangel'
. . Now a sador's hfe IS a hfe of danger,
? ? But a nune, why every stlck of It IS numbered, ? ? And one tIme we mIssed one, 'lnd there was
? ? Three hundred men kIlled m the 'sploslOn . .
He was annoyed wIth the stnkers, havmg started hImself As engmeer and worked up, and losmg,
By that coal strIke, some months after the paragraph
SIr Zenos Metevsky has been elected PresIdent Of the Gethsemane TreblZond Petrol
And then there came out another 80 locomotlves On the Manchester CardIff have been fitted wIth New oI1-burnmg appalatus
Large stocks of the heavIer vanetles of whKh (I e 011) Are now on hand m the country
So I saId to the old quaker HamIsh,
I saId . . I am mterested" And he went putty colour And saId . . He don't advertISe No, I don't thmk You wdllearn much" That was when I aslted
About Metevsky Melchlzedek
He, Harrush, took the tractors up to
KIng Meneltk, 3 nvers and 1 4 0 raVines
. . Qu'est-ce qu'on pense ">" I satd ? ? On don't pense
? ?
They're solId bone You can amputate from Just above The medulla, and It won't alter the hfe m that Island . . But he controued, . . Mals, qu'EsT-CE qu'ON pense,
? ? De la metallurgIe, en Ang1eterre, qu'est-ce qu'on
. . Pense de Metevsky"> "
? And I saId . . They am't heard hIs name yet t. Go ask at MacGorvlsh's bank"
The Jap observers were much amused because The TurkIsh freemasons hadn't bothered to Tale the regImental b'ldges off theIr artIllery And old HamIsh Menehk
Had a hunch that machmery and so on But he never could get It to work,
never could get any power
The Germans wd send htm up bouers, but they'd Have to cut 'em mto pIeces to load 'em on camels, And they never got 'em together agaIn
And so old HamISh went out there,
And looked at the place, 3 rIvers
And a hundred and forty ravmes,
And he sent out two tractors, one to pull on the other And Menehk sent down an army, a 5000 black army WIth hawsers, and they all sweated and swatted
And the first thmg Dave ht on when they got there Was a buzz-saw,
And he put It through an ebony log whhsssh, t ttt, Two days' work 10 three mInutes
War, one war after another,
Men start 'em who couldn't put up a good hen-roost
Also sabotage
? XIX
SABOTAGE:> Yes, he took It up to Manhattan,
To the bIg company, and they s'ud ImpossIble
And he saId I gawt ten thousand dollars tew mak 'em, And I am a gom' tew mal 'em, and }ou'll damn well Have to mstall 'em, awl over the place
And they sald Oh, we can't have lt
So he settled for one-half of one mxlhon
And he has a very nice place on the Hudson,
And that mvennon, patent, 15 stillm theIr desk
And the answer to that IS Wa'al he had the ten thousand And old Spmder, that put up the 1870 gothick memonal. He tned to pull me on Marx, and he told me
About the ? ? romance of hIS busmess "
How he came to England With somethmg or other,
and sold 1t
Only he wanted to talk about Marx, so I sez
Waal haow 1S It you're over here, rIght off the Champz Elyza'>
And how can yew be here> Why don't the fellers at home Take It all off you'> How can you leave your big busmess'> tC Oh," he sez, tC I am't had to rent any money
tC It's a long time smce I am't had tew rent any money" Nawthm' more about Das Kapltal,
Or credit, or d15tnbunon
And he . . never :finIShed the book,"
That was the other chap, the slender dtplomatdentlst QUl se ialSalt SI beau
So we sat there, With the old kmdly professor, And the stubby httIe man was up-stairs
And there was the sItek guy In the other
84
? corner readIng The Tatler,
Not upside down, but never turning the pages,
And then I went up to the bed-room, and he saId, The stubby fellow Perfectly true,
. . But It'S a question of feeling,
. . Can't move 'em with a cold thing, lIke economICS ? ? And so we came down staIrs and went out,
And the slIck guy looked out of the Window, And In carne the street" Lemme-at-'em "
lIke a bull-dog In a mackintosh
o my Cho'
Then the telephone dIdn't work for a week
Ever seen Pnshmp, lIttle hunchback,
Couldn't take hIm for any army
And he saId I haf a messache from dh' professor,
<< There's lots of 'em want to go over,
. . But when they try to go over,
. . Dh' hRusslan boys shoot 'em, and they want to know . . How to go over"
Vlettmann:> was out there, and that was,
Say, two months later, and he said
. . Jolly chaps," he saId, (C they used to go by
to Under my Window, at two o'clock In the mornmg, . . All SInging, all sIngtng the He Sloveny'"
Yes, Vlettmann, and the RUSSIan boys dldn't shoot'em Short story, entItled, the Blrth of a Natlon
And there was that sqUIrt of an Ausstrrlan With a rose m hIS button-hole,
And how the hell he stayed on here,
nght through the whole bhloody bUSiness,
Cocky as Khmtnoze, and enJoymg every Boche VIctOry. Naphtha, or some damn thmg for the submarmes,
85
? Like they had, Just had, to have the hemp via Rotterdam
Das thust du nIcht, Albert)
That was 10 the old days, all sItting around In arm-chaIrs, And that's gone, lIke the cake shops 10 the Nevsky
<<No use telhng 'em anythmg, revoh. . tlOn. lneS,
Till they're at the end,
Oh, absolootly, A T the end of theIr tether
Governed Governed the place from a tram,
Or rather from three trams, on a raIlway,
And he'd keep about three days ahead of the lobby, I mean he had hIS government on the trams,
And the lobby had to get there on horseback,
And he said Blgod It'S damn funny,
Own half the ou In the world, and can't get enough To run a government engme' "
And then they Jawed for two hours,
And finally Steff saId Will you fellows show me a map) And they brought one, and Steff said
. . Waal what are those hnes)" "Y es, those straIght lmes " ? ? Those are roads I t A nd'? what are those lInes,
. . The WIggly ones)" . . RIvers"
And Steff saId ? ? Government property) . .
So two hours later an engme went off WIth the order How to dIg WIthout confiscation
And Tommy Baymont saId to Steff one day
? ? You thmk we run It, lemme tell you,
? ? We bought a cOalmme, I mean the mortgage fell In, . . And you'd a' thought we could run It
. . Well I had to go down there meself, and the manager ? ? Said ? ? Run It, of course we can run It,
. . We can't sell the damn coal"
86
? So I saId to the X and B Central,
- you'd say we boss the X and B Central>-
I saId You buy your damn coal from our mme
And a year later they hadn't, so I had up the dIrectors, And they saId well anyhow, they couldn't
buy the damn coal And next week ole JIm came, the bIg fat one
WIth the dIamonds, and he saId . . Mr Baymont, You Just must charge two dollars more
A ton fer that coal And the X and B wIll Take It through US . .
. . So there was my ole man SIttIng,
They were In arm-chaIrs, accordmg to protocol, And next hIm hIS nephew Mr Wurmsdorf, And old Ptierstoff, for purely famIly reasons, Personal reasons, was held In great esteem
by hIS relatIves,
And he had hIS despatches from St Petersburg,
And Wurmsdorf had hIS from VIenna,
And he knew, and they knew, and each knew That the other knew that the other knew he knew, And Wurmsdorf was Just reachmg mto hIS pocket, That was to start thIngs, and then my ole man SaId It
Albert, and the rest of It Those days are gone by {or ever"
. . Ten years gone, ten years of my hfe,
Never get those ten years back agam
Ten years of my hfe, ten years 1ll the IndIan army,
But anyhow, there was that tIme 1ll Yash (Jassy)
That was somethIng, 14 gxrls m a fortmght "
. . Healthy but vermInous'>" . . That's It, healthy but verminOUS
And one tIme In KashmIr,
? In the houseboats, wIth the turquoIse,
A pIle three feet hIgh on the boat floor, And they'd be there all day at a bargam For ten bobs' worth of turquoISe"
88
? xx
SOUND slender, quasI tInnula,
Llgur' aOlde Sl no'us Vel, Domna don plus ml cal, Negus vezer mon bel pensar no val"
Between the two almond trees flowering,
The vlel held close to hIs sIde,
And another s'adora"
. . Possum ego naturae
non memlWsse tuae I " QUl son ProperZlo ed OVldlo
The boughs are not more fresh
where the almond shoots
take thelr March green
And that year I went up to Frelburg,
And Rennert had saId Nobody, no, nobody
Knows anything about Proven~al, or If there 1$ anybody, It's old Levy "
And so I went up to Frelburg,
And the vacatlOn was Just beginning,
The students getting off for the summer, Fretburg 1m Bre15gau,
And everything clean, seemmg clean, after Italy
And I went to old Levy, and It was by then 6 30
In the evenlOg, and he traIled half way across Frelburg before dinner, to see the two strIpS of copy,
Arnaut's, settant'uno R supenore (Ambroslana)
Not that I could SlOg hIm the muSIc
And he saId Now 1$ there anythIng I can tell you)" And I sald I dunno, SIr, or
. . Yes, Doctor, what do they mean by notganJTes~" And he SaId NOlgandresl NOIgandres'
89
? to You know for seex mon's of my hfe
. . Effery nIght when I go to bctt, I say to myself
. . NOlgandres, eh, notgandres,
. . Now what the DEFFIL can that mean' "
Wind over the olIve trees, ranunculae ordered,
By the cleal edge of the rocks
The water runs, and the wind scented wIth pine And WIth hay-fields under sun-swath
AgostinO, ]acopo and Boccata
You would be happy for the smell of that place And never tIred of being there, eIther alone
Or accompanIed
Sound as of the nIghtmgale too far off to be heard Sandra, and Boccata, and Jacopo SellalO,
The ranunculre, and almond,
Boughs set In espaher,
DUCCIO, Agostino, e I'olors -
The smell of that place - d'enol games AIr moving under the boughs,
The cedars there m the sun,
Hay new cut on hIll slope,
And the water there In the cut
Between the two lower meadows, sound, The sound, as I have saId, a mghtIngale Too far off to be heard
And the lIght falls, rel1ttr,
from her breast to thIghs
He was plaYing there at the palla
ParlSIna - two doves for an altar - at the Wlndow~ . . B'l Marchese
Stava per lwentr pazzo
after It all" And that was when Troy was down
And they came here and cut holes In rock, Pown Rome way, and put up the tlmbers,
90
? And came here, condIt Atesten
? ? Peace' keep the peace, Borso"
And he said Some bItch has sold us (that was Ganelon)
? ? They wont get another such IVOry"
And he lay there on the round hul under the cedar A httle to the left of the cut (Este speakmg)
By the side of the summIt, and he saId
"I have broken the horn, bigod, I have te Broke the best IVOry, l'olofans" And he saId cc Tan mare fustes' "
pullmg hxmself over the gravel, . . Blgod' that buggar 15 done for,
te They wont get another such IVOry"
And they were there before the wall, Toro, las almenas,
(Este, NIC Este speakmg)
Under the battlement (Epi purgo) peur de la hasle,
And the KIng saxd
c. God what a woman'
My God what a woman" Said the Kmg tela rigido
. . Sister' . . says Ancures, . . '5 your sister' "
Alf left that town to ElVira, and Sancho wanted It from her, Taro and Zamora
. . Bloody spaniard'
Neestho, le'er go back
m the autumn " "Este, go' damn you" between the walls, arras,
Painted to look hke arras
Jungle Glaze green and red feathers, Jungie,
BaslS of renewal, renewals,
Rtsmg over the soul, green vlrld, of the Jungle, Lozenge of the pavement, clear shapes, Broken, dlSrupted, body eternal,
91
? WJ1derness of renewals, confusIOn BasIS of renewals, subsIstence, Glazed green of the Jungle,
Zoe, Marozla, Zothar,
loud over the banners, Glazed grape, and the crImson,
HO BIOS,
COSI Elena vedI,
In the sunlIght, gate cut by the shadow,
And then the faceted aIr
Floatmg Below, sea churmng shmgle FloatIng, each on 10VIsIbie raft,
On the hIgh current, 10Vlsible flUId, Borne over the pla1O, recumbent,
The rtght arm cast back,
the nght WrIst for a pulow, The left hand lIke a calyx,
Thumb held agamst finger, the thIrd,
The first fingers petal'd up, the hand as a lamp, A calyx
From toe to head
The purple, blue-pale smoke, as of 1Ocense,
Wrapped each 10 burnous, smoke as the olIbanum's, SWift, as If JOYous
Wrapped, floatmg, and the blue-pale smoke of the 1OcensE' SWIft to nse, then lazuy 10 the wmd
as Aeolus over bean-field,
As hay 10 the sun, the olIbanum, saffron, As myrrh wIthout styrax,
Each man In hIS cloth, as on raft, . :>n
The hIgh mVIsible current, On toward the fall of water,
And then over that cataract,
In aIr, strong, the brIght flames, V shaped,
Nd fuoco
? D'amore nu mIse, nel fuoco d'amore ml mISe Yellow, bnght saffron, croceo,
And as the ohbanum bursts Into flame,
The bodIes so flamed In the aIr, took flame,
. . M1 mlSe, II miO sposo novello " Shot from stream Into SPital,
Or followed the water Or looked back to the flov,omg, Others approaclung that cataract,
As to dawn out of shadow, the swathed cloths
Now purple and orange,
And the blue water dusky beneath them, pouring there mto the cataract,
WIth nOIse of sea over slungle, strllung WIth
hah hah ahah thmm, thunb, ah
woh woh araha thumm, bhaaa And from the floatmg bodIes, the Incense
blue-pale, purple above them Shelf of the lotophagol,
Aenal, cut In the aether
Recltmng,
Wlth the sllver spilla,
The ball as of melted amber, colled, caught up, and turned Lotophagol of the suave nalls, qUlet, scornful,
V oce-profondo
? ? Feared nelther death nor pam for thIS beauty, I f harm, harm to ourselves"
And beneath the clear bones, far down, Thousand on thousand
. . What gain Wlth Odysseus, . . They that dled In the whlrlpool
. . And after many vam labours,
. . LIVing by stolen meat, chained to the rOWlngbench, ? ? That he should have a great fame
93
? c. And he by mght wIth the goddess) . . TheIr names are not wntten m bronze
. . Nor theIr rowmg stIcks set WIth Elpenor's, . . Nor have they mound by sea-bord
. . That saw never the ohves under Spartha . c WIth the leaves green and then not green,
. . The chck of lIght m theIr branches,
. . That saw not the bronze hall nor the mgle
. . Nor lay there WIth the queen's W'l. ltmg maIds,
. . Nor had they CIrce to couch-mate, CIrce Tltama, c. Nor had they meats of Kalupso
. . Or her stlk skIrts brushmg theIr thIghs
. . GIve' What were they glven:l
Ear-wax
. c POlson and ear-wax,
and a salt grave by the bull-field, . . neson amumona, theIr heads hke sea crows m the foam,
c. Black splotches, sea-weed under lIghtnmg,
. . Canned beef of Apollo, ten cans for a boat load . . Llgur' aOlde
And from the plam whence the water-shoot,
Across, back, to the nght, the roads, a way m the grass, The Khan's huntIng leopard, and young Salustlo
And Ixotta, the suave turf
Ac ferae famlhares, and the cars slowly,
And the panthers, soft-footed
Plam, as the plam of Somnus,
the heavy cars, as a trIumph,
Gtlded, heavy on wheel,
and the panthers chamed to the cars,
Over suave turf, the form wrapped,
Rose, cnmson, deep crImson,
And, m the blue dusk, a colour as of rust m the sun. lIght, Out of whtte cloud, mOVIng over the plam,
94
? Head In arm's curve, H:chnmg,
The road, back and away, tIll cut along the face of the rock, And the clIff folds In hke a curtam,
The road cut m under the rock
Square groove In the clxtf's face, as chioStrx,
The columns crystal, WIth peacocks cut In the capItals,
The soft pad of beasts dragging the cars,
Cars, slow, WIthout creak,
And at wmdows In Inner roadsIde
Ie donne e I cavalIerI
smooth face under hennm, The sleeves embroIdered wIth flowers, Great thIstle of gold, or an amaranth,
Acorns of gold, or of scarlet, CramOlSl and ruaspre
slashed whIte mto velvet,
Crystal columns, acanthus, suens In the pIllar heads, And at last, between gIlded barocco,
Two columns coIled and fluted,
Vanoka, leanmg half naked,
. . Peace'
waste hall there behmd her Borso ,Borso'"
95
? XXI
KEEP the peace, Borso'" Where are we' ? ? Keep on wIth the busxness,
That"s made me,
. . And the res pubhca didn't . . When I was broke, and a poor kid,
. . They all knew me, all of these czttaatnt,
. . And they all of them cut me dead, della glona " Intestate, I42. ! h leavmg I78,22. I flOrIns dt sugello,
As IS Sald In CoSImO'S red leather note book Dl sugello And . . With rus credit emptled Vemce of money " -
That was CoSlffiO-
. . And Naples, and made them accept Ius peace" And he caught the young boy FIClno
And had hlffi taught the greek language,
. . WIth two ells of red cloth per person
I wdl make you ", COSlffiO speakmg, ? ? as many Honest citizens as you desire"
Col credlto suo
Napoh e Venezia dl danarl
Costrettl Napoh e VeneZIa a quella pace Or another tIme oh well, pass It
And Ptero called In the credits,
(DlotlSalvl was back of that)
And firms faded as far off as AVlgnon,
And Plero was hke to be murdered,
And young Lauro came down ahead of hIm, In the road, And sald Yes, father 15 commg
Intestate, '69, 10 December, leaVlng me 2. 37,989 florins, As you will :find In my bIg green account book
In carta dl capretto,
? And from '34 when I count It, to last year,
We paId out 600,000 and over,
That was for bwldmg, taxes and charIty
Nlc Uzano saw us commg Agamst It, honest, And warned 'em They'd have murdered hun, And would Coslmo, but he bnbed 'em,
And they dId m GIulIano E dIffiClle, A Frrenze dIfficlle vlver rlcco
Senza aver 10 stato
. . E non avendo stato PICCInmo
. . Doveva temerlo qualunque era m stato, ? ?
And to that man sweated blood to put through that raIlway", to Could you", wrote Mr Jefferson,
to FInd me a gardener
Who can play the french horn;l
The bounds of Amencan fortune
Wtll not admIt the mdulgence of a domestIc band of MusIClans, yet I have thought that a passIon for musIc
MIght be reconctled WIth that economy whIch we are Obhged to observe I retaIn among my domestIc servants
A gardener, a weaver, a cabInet-maker, and a stone-cutter, To whIch I would add a vIgneron In a country hke yours
(Id est Burgundy) where musIc IS cultIvated and
PractIsed by every class of men, I suppose there mIght
Be found persons of these trades who could perform on The french horn, clanonet, or hautboy and bassoon, so That one mIght have a band of two french horns, two Clanonets, two hautboys and a bassoon, WIthout enlargIng Thetr domestIc expenses A certamty of employment for Half a dozen years
(affattgandosepersuop,acer0 non)
And at the end of that tIme, to find them, If they
Choose, a conveyance to theIr own country, mIght mduce Them to come here on reasonable wages WIthout meanmg to GIve you trouble, perhaps I t mIght be practIcable for you
97
? In your ordInary Intercourse wlth your people to find out Such men dlsposed to come to AmerIca Sobrlety and good Nature would be deslrable parts of theIr characters . .
June 1778 Montecello
And 1Q July I went up to Mtlan for Duke Galeaz TosponsorhIsInfantIn baptlsm,
Albeit were others more worthy,
And took hlS Wlfe a gold collar holdIng a dIamond That cost about 3000 ducats, on wh1ch account That S1gnor Galeaz Sforza VIScontI has WIshed me To stand sponsor to all of hls chIldren
Another war Wlthout glory, and another peace Without qwet
And the Sultan sent him an assaSSin, hIS brother,
And the Soldan of Egypt, a hon,
And he begat one pope and one son and four daughters, And an Unlvers1ty, P1sa, (Lauro Medlc1)
And nearly went broke In Ius busmess,
And bought land In Siena and Plsa,
And made peace by hiS own talk In Naples And there was grass on the floor of the temple, Or where the floor of It might have been,
Gold fades In the gloom,
Under the blue-black roof, Placlma's, Of the exarchate. and we Sit here
By the arena. les gradms
And the palazzo, baseless, hangs there 1Q the dawn WIth low mISt over the tide-mark,?
An' he looked at It, an' he got better,
And when he left the hospItal, qUIt the drmk, And when he was well enough
SIgned on WIth another shIp And saved up rus pay money,
and kept on savm' hIS pay money, And bought a share in the srup,
and finally had half shares, Then a srup
and m tune a whole hne of steamers, And educated the kId,
and when the kId was m college, The ole satior was agam taken bad
and the doctors saId he was dymg, And the boy came to the bedSIde,
and the old satior saId
~. Boy, I'm sorry I can't hang on a bIt longer, . . You're young yet
I leave you re-sponsa-blhttes
. . . Wish I could ha' WaIted till you were older, . . . More fit to take over the bISness . .
. . But, father,
c'Don't, don't talk about me, I'm all nght, C'It's you, father"
. . That's It, boy, you Said It 56
? . . You called me your father, and I aIn't
. . I a111't your dad, no,
. . I am not your fader but your moder," quod he, cc Your fader was a rIch merchant 111 Stambouli ,.
57
? XIII
K NGWalked
by the dynastIc temple
and Into the ced'1r grove,
and then out by the lower Civer,
And wIth hIm KhIeu, Tchl
and Tlan the low speakIng
And tt we are unknown," saId Kung, u Y ou will take up chanoteenng)
Then you WIll become known,
. . Or perhaps I should take up charioteerIng, or archery)
It Or the praCtice of pubhc speakIng) "
And Tseu-Iou saId, . . I would put the defences In order," And Khleu Said, . . If I were lord of a prOVInce
I would put It In better order than thIS IS "
And Tchl saId, cc I would prefer a small mountaIn temple, . . Wlth order U l the observances,
Wlth a sUItable performance of the ntual," And Tlan saId, Wlth hIS hand on the strIngs of hIS lute The low sounds contInu1llg
after hIS h'lnd left the strmgs,
And the sound went up lIke smoke, under the leaves, And he looked after the sound
. c The old SWImming hole,
. . And the boys flopping off the planks,
. . Or SItting In the underbrush plaYing mandolms "
And Kung smtled upon all of them equally And Thseng-sie deSIred to know
. . WhIch had answered correctly)"
And Kung saId, . . They have all answered correctly, to That IS to say, each Ul hIS nature"
And Kung ralSed hIS cane agaInst Yuan Jang,
Yuan lang beIng hIS elder, 58
? For Yuan Jang sat by the roadsIde pretendmg to be reCeIVIng wIsdom
And Kung saId
. . You old fool, come out of It,
Get up and do somethIng useful . . And Kung s:ud
. . Respect a chtld's facultIes
. . From the moment It Inhales the clear aIr, . . But a man of fifty who knows nothmg
Is worthy of no respect"
A nd" When the prInce has gathered about hIm
. . All the savants and artISts, hIS rIches wtll be fully mployed" And Kung saId, and wrote on the bo leaves
If a man have not order WIthIn rum He can not spread order about hIm,
And If a man have not order WIthIn hIm HIs famtly WIll not act WIth due order,
And 1f the prInce have not order withm hun He can not put order In hIS domlD1ons
And Kung gave the words . . order"
and co brotherly deference"
And saId nothIng of the . . hfe after death . . And he saId
cc Anyone can run to excesses, It 15 easy to shoot past the mark,
It IS hard to stand nrm In the mIddle . .
And they saId If a man commIt murder
Should hIS father protect hun, and rude hun'
And Kung SaId
He should hIde hun
And Kung gave rus daughter to Kong-Tch'ang Although Kong-Tch'ang was 10 prlSon
And he gave hts mece to Nan-Young
although Nan-Young was out of office
59
? And Kung said <<Wang ruled with moderation, In hiS day the State was well kept,
And even I can remember
A day when the hlstonans left blanks 10 their wrltmgs, I mean for thmgs they didn't know,
But that time seems to be passmg . .
And Kung said, . . Wlthout character you will
be unable to play on that mstrument Or to execute the mUSlC fit for the Odes
The blossoms of the apncot
blow from the east to the west, And I have tried to keep them from fallIng . .
60
? XIV
10 venru In luogo d'ogru luce muto,
The stench of wet coal, pohtlClans
e and n, their wrists bound to
their ankles, Standmg bare bum,
Faces smeared on their rumps, Wide eye on flat buttock,
Bush hangmg for beard,
Addressmg crowds through their arse-holes,
Addressmg the multttudes m the ooze, newts, water-slugs, water-maggots,
And With them r,
a scrupulously clean table-napktn
Tucked under hIs perus,
and m
Who dtshked colloqwal language, Sttff-starched, but soded, collars
clrcumscrIbmg hIS legs, The pImply and hairy skm
pushmg over the collar's edge,
Profiteers drmkmg blood sweetened With sh-t, And behmd them f and the finanCIers
lashmg them Wlth steel Wires
And the betrayers of language
n and the press gang
And those who had hed for hire,
the perverts, the perverters of language,
the perverts, who have set money-lust Before the pleasures of the senses,
howlmg, as of a hen-yard m a prmtIng-house, the clatter of presses,
61
? the bloWIng of dry dust and stray paper, ftttor, sweat, the stench of stale oranges, dung, last cess-pool of the umverse, mystenum, aCid of sulphur,
the pusillammous, ragIng, plungIng Jewels xn mud,
and howhng to find them unstaIned,
sadlc mothers driVIng their daughters to bed wIth decrepItude, sows eatIng their lItters,
and here the placard EIKn~ rH~,
and here THE PERSONNEL CHANGES,
meltmg hke dIrty wax,
decayed candles, the bums smkIng lower,
faces submerged under hams, And In the ooze under them, reversed, foot-palm to foot-palm,
hand-palm to hand-palm, the agents provocateurs The murderers of Pearse and MacDonagh,
Captam H the chief torturer, The petrIfied turd that was Verres,
b1gots, CalVIn and St Clement of Alexandna' black-beetles, burrowmg Into the sh-t,
The sou a decrepitude, the ooze full of morsels,
lost contours, eroSIons
Above the hell-rot the great arse-hole,
broken With pues, hangmg stalactItes,
greasy as sky over Westmxnster, the mVlSlble, many Enghsh,
the place lackmg m Interest, last squalor, utter decrepItude,
62.
? the VIce-crusaders, fahrtmg through stlk, waVIng the ChrlStlan symbols,
frIggIng a tm penny whIstle,
FlIes carrymg news, harpIes dnppmg sh-t through the alt,
The slough of unamlable hars, bog of stupldtnes,
malevolent stupldlnes, and stupIdItIes, the sot! hvmg pus, full of vetmln, dead maggots begettmg lIve maggots,
slum owners,
usurers squeeZIng crab-hce, pandars to authorIty, pets-de-Ioup, sltnng on pt! es of stone books, obscurmg the texts WIth pht! ology,
htdmg them under thelt persons, the aIr WIthout refuge of st! ence,
the dnft of ! tce, teetrung, and above It the mouthmg of orators,
the arse-belcrung of preachers
And Invlrua,
the corruptto, fretor, fungus,
hqwd anImals, melted ossmcatlons, slow rot, frend combustIOn,
chewed CIgar-butts, Without dIgnIty, WIthout tragedy, m EplSCOpUS, wavmg a condom full of black-beetles,
monopohsts, obstructors of knowledge, obstructors of dlstnbutlon
? xv
TEiE saccharescent, lymg 10 glucose,
the pompous 10 cotton wool
With a stench hke the fats at Grasse,
the great scabrous arse-hole, sh-ttmg flles, rumbhng Wlth Imperlahsm,
ultunate unnal, mlddan, plSswa110w Without a cloaca,
r less rowdy,
EP1SCOpUS
SlS,
head down, screwed Into the swlll,
h1S legs waVlD. g and pustular,
a clerlcal Jock strap hangmg back over the navel
h1S condom full of black beedes,
ta"ttoo marks round the anus, and a CIrcle of lady golfers about htm
the courageous Vlolent
slashmg themselves With kruves,
the cowardly mClters to vlolence
nand h eaten by weeVIls,
11 hke a swollen fO! :tus,
the beast wlth a hundred legs, USURA
and the sWllI full of respecters,
bOWIng to the lords of the place,
explammg Its advantages,
and the laudatores tempons actI
clalmlng that the sh-t used to be blacker and rlcher
and the fabtans cry10g for the petnficatIon of putrefaction, for a new dung-flow cut In lozenges,
the conservatives chattlllg,
dlStlngwhed by gatters of slum-flesh, and the back-scratchers 10 a great rucle,
complalllmg of msuffiClent attention, 64
? the search WithOut end, counterclaxm for the mlSslDg scratch the lItigious,
a green bIle-sweat, the news owners, S
the anonymous :? fe, broken
hxs head shot hke a cannon-ball toward the glass gate, peermg through It an mstant,
fallmg back to the trunk, epileptIc, et nulla :6. dentla mter eos,
all With theIr tWitchmg backs, WIth daggers, and bottle ends, waitIng an
unguarded moment,
a stench, stuck In the nostrxIs, beneath one
nothmg that mIght not move, mobIle earth, a dung hatchmg obscenxtIes,
mchoate error, boredom born out of boredom,
bntish weeklIes, COPIeS of the c, a multIple nn,
and I SaId, co How IS It done) "
and my gwde Tlus sort breeds by sClSslon,
ThIS IS the fourmx1honth tumour
In thIs bolge bores are gathered,
In:6. nxte pUS flakes, scabs of a lastIng pox
skm-flakes, repetItiOns, erOSIons, endless ram from the arse-haIrs, as the earth moves, the centre
passes over all parts m succeSSIon, a contInual bum-belch
dIstrIbutIng Its productIons 65
? Andlamo'
One's feet sunk,
the welsh of mud gnpped one, no hand-rail, the bog-suck lIke a whIrl-pool,
and he SaId
Close the pores of your feet' And my eyes clung to the hOrIzon,
od mIXIng WIth soot, and agam PlotInus
To the door,
Keep your eyes on the mIrror
Prayed we to the Medusa,
petnfymg the sod by the shIeld,
HoldIng It downward
he hardened the track
Inch before us, by Inch,
the matter reSIStIng,
The heads rose from the shIeld, lussmg, held downwards
Devounng maggots,
the face only half potent,
The serpents' tongues
grazmg the swt11 top,
Hammermg the souse mto hardness, the narrow rast,
Half the WIdth of a sword's edge
By tlus through the dem eVIl,
now smkmg, now chngmg,
Holdmg the unsInkable shteld
ObhVlon,
forget how long, sleep, faIntIng nausea
. . Whether 10 NaIShapur or Babylon " I heard In the dream
PlotInus gone,
66
? And the shIeld tIed under me, woke, The gate swung on Its hlnges, Pantlng hke a sIck dog, staggered, Bathed In alkalI, and In aCId
'H~MOll T' 'HE~Wll
blInd Wlth the sunlIght,
Swollen-eyed, rested,
lIds SInkIng, darkness unconsCIous
? XVI
}f. D before hell mouth, dry plam and two mountams,
On the one mountaIn, a runn10g form, and another
In the tum of the htll, In hard steel The road lIke a slow screw's thread, The angle almost 1lllperceptlble,
so that the CircUlt seemed hardly to rISe, And the runnmg form, naked, Blake,
Shoutmg, whlrlmg hiS arms, the sWift hmbs, Howlmg agaInst the evtl,
rus eyes rollmg, Wlurhng lIke flammg cart-wheels,
and hlS head held backward to gaze on the eVil As he ran from It,
to be hid by the steel mountam,
And when he showed agaIn from the north SIde,
hlS eyes blazmg toward hell mouth, HIS neck. forward,
and hke hun Pelre Cardmal And 10 the west mountam, II Florentmo, Seemg hell 10 hiS mirror,
and 10 Sordels Loolung on It 10 rus shIeld,
And Augustme, gaZlng toward the mVlSlble
And past them, the crlm1nal
lymg 10 blue lakes of aCId,
The road between the two hills, upward slowly,
The flames patterned 10 lacquer, crImen est actIO, The lImbo of chopped Ice and saw-dust,
68
? And I batked myself With the aCid to free myself of the hell bcks,
Scales, fallen louse eggs Palux Laerna,
the lake of bodies, aqua morta,
of I1mbs fluid, and mIngled, hke fuh heaped In a bIn,
and here an arm upward, clutchmg a fragment of marble, And the embryos, In flux,
new Inflow, submergIng,
Here an arm upward, trout, submerged by the eels,
and from the bank, the stiff herbage
the dry nobbled path, saw many known, and unknown, for an mstant,
submergmg, The face gone, generation
Then hght aIr, under saplmgs, the blue banded lake under rether,
an OasiS, the stones, the calm field, the grass qwet,
and passmg the tree of the bough The grey stone posts,
and the staIr of gray stone, the passage clean-squared In granite
descendmg,
and I through thIS, and mto the earth,
patet terra, entered the qwet aIr
the new sky,
the hght as after a sun-set,
and by theIr fountaInS, the heroes, Slgxsmundo, and Malatesta Novello,
and founders, gazmg at the mounts of thClr CItIes
The plaIn, dIStance, and In fount-pools the nymphs of that water
69
? nsmg, spreachng theIr garlands,
weavmg theIr water reeds WIth the boughs,
In the qUIet,
and now one man rose from hIs fountam
and went off mto the plaIn
Prone 10 that grass, m sleep, et j'entendls des VOIX
Galhffet led that tnple charge and he saId
wall Strasbourg PrUSSlans
It was for the honour of the army And they called rum a swashbuckler
I dxdn't know what It was
But I thought ThIS IS pretty bloody damn fine And myoid nurse, he was a man nurse, and
He klllcd '\ Prussian and he lay m the stleet there 11l tront of our house for three days
And he stank
Brother Percy, And our Brother Percy ?
old Admtral
He was a middy In those days,
And they came mto Ragusa
place those men went for the Sxlk War
And they saw a proceSSIon conung down through A cut m the hxlls, carrymg sometrung
The SIX chaps m front carry10g a long thmg
on theIr shoulders,
And they thought It was a funeral,
but the th10g was wrapped up m scarlet, And he put off 10 the cutter,
he was a middy 10 those days, To see what the natIves were dOIng,
And they got up to the SIX fellows m hvery, 70
[Plarr's 1tQf1atzon]
? And they looked at It, and I can stul hear the old admrra" ? ? Was It) It was
Lord Byron
Dead drunk, 'wIth the face of an A y n He pulled It out long, lIke that
the face of an a y n
And because that son of a bItch, Franz Josef of Austna
gel "
And because that son of a bItch Napoleon Barbiche They put Aldmgton on Hul 70, m a trench
dug through corpses With a lot of kIds of SIxteen,
Howhng and crymg for thelt mamas, And he sent a chIt back to hIS major
I can hold out for ten mmutes With my sergeant and a machme-gun
And they rebuked hIm for levity And Henrl GaudIer went to It,
and they kuled hIm,
And kuled a good deal of sculpture,
AndoleTEH hewenttoIt,
WIth a lot of books from the lIbrary,
London LIbrary, and a shell buned 'em In a dug-out, And the LIbrary expressed Its annoyance
And a bullet hit hIm on the elbow gone through the fellow I n front of hIm,
And he read Kant In the HOSPItal, In Wtmbledon, In the orIgInal,
And the hospItal staff dIdn't lIke It
And Wyndham LewIS went to It, WIth a heavy bIt of artulery,
and the aIrmen came by WIth a Mitrailleuse, And cleaned out most of hIS company,
and a shell ht on hIS tIn hut, 7I
? Wlule he was out m the prIVVY,
and he was all there was left of'that outfit
Wmdeler went to It,
and he was out 10 the JEga::an,
And down m the hold of hIS shIp pumpmg gas mto a sausage,
And the boatswam looked over the raxI, down mto amIdshIps, and he saId
Gees' 1001. . a' the Kept'n, The Kept'n's a-gettm' 'er up
And Ole Captam Baker went to It,
WIth rus legs full of rheumatics,
So much so he couldn't run,
so he was SIX months In hospItal,
Observmg the mentahty of the patIents
And Fletcher was 19 when he went to It, And rus major went mad In the control pIt,
about mldmght, and started throWIng the 'phone about And he had to keep rum qUIet
till about SlX In the mornmg, And dIrect that bunch of artIllery
And ErnIe Hem10gway went to It, too much 10 a hurry,
And they buned hun for four days
Et ma fOl, vous savez,
tous les nerveux Non,
Y a une hmlte, les betes, les hetes ne sont
Pas faltes pour ~a, c'est peu de chose un cheval Les hommes de 34 ans a quatre pattes
qUI cnalent . . maman" MalS les costauds,
La :fin, la aVerdun, n'y avalt que ces gros bonshommes
Et y voyuent extremement claIr 72.
? Qu'est-ce que ~a vaut, les generaux, Ie heutenant, on les pese a un centlgramme,
n'y a nen que du bOIs,
Notr' eapltame, tout, tout ee qU'll y a de plus renferme
de Vleux polytechmclen, malS sohde, La tete sohde La, vous savez,
Tout, tout fonctlonne, et les voleurs, tous les VIces, Mals les rapaces,
y avalt trOIS dans notre compagnie, tous tues Y sortalent fouiller un eadavre, pour nen,
y n'seralent sortls pour nen que ~a Et les boches, tout ce que vous voulez,
mlhtansme, et cretera, et ea:tera Tout ~a, malS, MAIS,
l'fran~als, I s'bat quand y a mange MalS ces pauvres types
A la fin y s'attaqualent pour manger,
Sans ordres, les betes sauvages, on y faIt
Pnsonmers, ceux qUl parlalent fran~als dlsalent
<< Poo quah;l Ma fOl on attaqualt pour manger"
C'est Ie eorr-ggras, Ie corps gras,
leurs trams marchalent trOIS kuometres a l'heure,
Et ~a enalt, ~a gnnealt, on l'entendalt acmq kIlometres (<;a qUI fimt la guerre )
Llste officlelle des morts 5,000,000
I vous dlt, be, VOUl, tout sentalt Ie petrole Mals, Non' Je l'al engueule
Je lUl al rut T'es un con' T'a rate la guerre
o VOUl' tous les hommes de gout, y eonVIens, Tout 'Sa en arnere
Mals un mee comme tOI'
73
? C't homme, U'l type comme ~a'
Ce qu'u auralt pu encalsser'
11 etalt dans une fabnque
What, burYing squad, terraSSlers, avec leur tete
en arnere, qUI regardalent comme ~a, On rlSqualt la vie pour un coup de pelle,
Faut que ~a SOlt bIen carre, exact
Dey vus a bolchevuu dere, und dey dease him Looka vat youah Trotzsk 15 done, e lSS
madeh deh zhamefull beace"
. . He ISS madeh deh zhamefull beace, 15S he'>
. . He IS madeh de zhamevul beace) t. A Brest-Lltovsk, yess) Amt yuh herd)
. . He vmneh de vore
t. De droobs 15S released vrom de eastern vront, }ess'> It Un venn dey getts to deb vestern vront, ISS It
t. How many getts dere)
? ? And dose doot getts dere ISS so full off revolutIons
. . Venn deh vrench 15 come dhru, yess, ? ? Dey say, to Vot) " Un de posch say
U Amt yeh heard) Say, ve got a rhetfolutlon"
Thai's the tnck WIth a crowd,
Get 'em lOto the street and get 'em movmg
And all the tune, there were people gomg Down there, over the nver
There was a man there talkIng, To a thousand, JUst a short speech, and Then move 'em on And he saxd
Yes, these people, they are all rIght, they Can do everythmg, everythmg except act,
And go an' hear 'em, but when they are through, Come to the bolshevIkI
74
? And when It broke, there was the crowd there, And the cossacks, Just as always before,
But one thIng, the cossacks sald
. . POJaloulsta "
And that got round In the crowd,
And then a lIeutenant of mfantry Ordered 'em to fire mto the crowd,
m the square at the end of the Nevsk}, In front of d'e Moscow statIon,
And they wouldn't,
And he pulled hIS sword on a student for laughmg, And kIlled hIm,
And a cossack rode out of hIS squad
On the other slde of the square
And cut down the heutenant of Infantry
And that was the revolutlon
a! > soon as they named It
And you can't make 'em,
Nobody knew It was commg They were all ready, the old gang. GUllS on the top of the post-office and the palace,
But none of the leaders knew It was commg
And there were some kIlled at the barracks, But that was between the troops
So we used to hear It at the opera, That they wouldn't be under HaIg,
and that the advance was beglllnmg, That It was gOlllg to begm m a week
75
? XVII
SO that the VInes burst from my fingers And the bees weIghted wIth pollen Move heavIly m the vIne-shoots
chlrr - chlrr - chlr-nkk - a purrIng sound, And the bIrds sleepIly In the branches
ZAGREUS' 10 ZAGREUS I
With the first pale-clear of the hea\en
And the cItIes set In theIr hIlls,
And the goddess of the faIr knees
MOVIng there, WIth the oak-woods behInd her, The green slope, WIth whIte hounds
leapIng about her,
And thence down to the creek's mouth, untIl evenIng,
Flat water before me,
and the trees groWIng In water,
Marble trunks out of stillness, On past the palazzI,
10 the stIllness, The lIght now, not of the sun
Chrysophrase,
And the water green clear, and blue clear,
On, to the great chffs of amber
Cave of Nerea,
she lIke a great shell curved,
Between them,
And the boat drawn Without sound,
Without odour of ship-work,
Nor bIrd-cry, nor any nOise of wave mOVIng,
Nor splash of porpOise, nor any nOlSe of wave movmg, Wlthm her cave, Nerea,
she lIke a great shell curved
76
? In the suavIty of the rock,
eMf green-gray 10 the far, In the near, the gate-clIffs of amber,
And the wave
green clear, and blue clear, And the cave salt-whlte, and glare-purple,
cool, porphyry smooth,
the rock sea-worn No gull-cry, no sound of porpOIse,
Sand as of malachIte, and no cold there, the lIght not of the sun
Zagreus, feed10g hIS panthers,
the turf clear as on hills under lIght
And under the almond-trees, gods,
Wlth them, choras nymph(lTum
Hermes and Athene,
As shaft of compass, Between them, trembled-
To the left IS the place of fauns,
sylva nympharum,
The low wood, moor-scrub,
the doe, the young spotted deer,
leap up through the broom-plants, as dry leaf amld yellow
And by one cut of the hIlls,
the great alley of Memnons
Beyond, sea, crests seen over dune NIght sea churnmg shmgle,
To the left, the alley of cypress
Gods,
One man holdmg her saIl,
77
A boat came,
? GUIdmg her wIth oar caught over gunwale, saymg
. . There, m the forest of malble,
. . the stone trees- out of water-
It the arbours of stone-
. .
. . . . . .
marble leaf, over leaf,
slIver, steel o"el steel,
slIver beaks nsmg and crossmg, prow set agamst prow,
. . stone, ply over ply,
. . the gIlt beams flare of an evenIng" Borso, Carmagnola, the men of craft, , mtret, ThIther, at one tIme, tIme after tIme,
And the waters rIcher than glass,
Bronze gold, the blaze over the slIver, Dye-pots In the torch-hght,
The flash of wave under prows,
And the stiver beaks rlSIng and crossmg
Stone trees, whIte and rose-whIte In the darkness,
Cypress there by the towers,
Drift under hulls I n the nIght
tt In the gloom the gold Gathers the hght about It"
Now supme m burrow, half over-arched bramble, One eye for the sea, through that peek-hole, Gray hght, With Athene
Zothar and her elephants, the gold 10m-cloth, The SIStrum, shaken, shaken,
the cohorts of her dancers And Aletha, by bend of the shore,
With her eyes seaward, and In her hands sea-wrack
Salt-bnght Wlth the foam
Kore through the bnght meadow,
With green-gray dust In the grass 78
? . . For this hour, brother of ellce "
Arm laid over my shoulder,
Saw the sun for three days, the sun fulvld, As a hon hft over sand-plam,
and that day, And for three days, and nOlle after,
Splendour, as the splendour of Hermes, And shIpped thence
to the stone place, Pale whIte, over water,
known water,
And the whIte forest of marble, bent bough over bough,
The pleached arbour of stone,
ThIther Borso, when they shot the barbed arrow at hun, And Carmagnola, between the two columns, SlgISmundo, after that wreck 10 Dalmatla
Sunset lIke the grasshopper flYIng
79
? XVIII
1\Dof Kublal
I have told you of that emperor's city 1Il detw And wtll tell you of the cOllllllg m Cambaluc
that hyght the secret of alchemy They take bast of the mulberry-tree,
That 15 a sklll between the wood and the bark, And of thIS they make paper, and mark It
Half a tornesel, a tornesel, or a half-groat of stIver, Or two groats, or five groats, or ten groats,
Or, for a great sheet, a gold bezant, 3 bezants, ten bezants,
And they are wrItten on by offiCIals,
And smeared WIth the great khan's seallll vermlixon, And the forgers are punIshed WIth death
And all thts costs the Kahn nothmg,
And so he IS rIch 1Il thIS world
And hIS postmen go sewed up and sealed up,
TheIr coats buttoned behllld and then sealed,
In thlS way from the voyage's one end to Its other And the IndIan merchants arrIvmg
Must gtve up theIr Jewels, and take thIS money
In paper,
(That trade runs, 1Il bezants, to 400,000 the year)
And the nobles must buy theIr pearls" - thus Messlre Polo, pnson at Genoa-
ct Of the Emperor"
There was a boy 1Il ConstantInople,
And some bntlSher kIcked hIS arse
cc I hate these french," saxd Napoleon, aged 12,
To young Bournenne, cc I Will do them all the harm
that I can"
In hke manner Zenos Metevsky
U
80
? And old BIers w~s out thele, a greenhorn,
To sell cannon, and Metevsky found the back door, And old BIers sold the mUnItIOns,
And Metevsky dIed and was buned, t e offiCIally, And sat 10 the Yemer Kafe watchmg the funeral
About ten years after thIS InCIdent, He owned a faIr chunk of Humbers
t< PeaceI Pleyce' I " saId Mr Glddmgs, "Um-ver-saP Not whIle yew got tew bIllIons ov money," SaId Mr GIdd1Ogs, " 10vested In the man-u-facture
" Of war machInery Haow I sold It to RUSSIa -
" Well we tuk 'em a new torpedo-boat,
. . And It was all electnc, run It all from a
" LIttle bIt uv a keyboard, about lIke the SIze ov . . A typewrIter, and the pnnce come aboard,
. . An' we sez wud yew hke to run her~
. . And he run damn slam on the breakwater,
? ? And bust off all her front end,
? ? And he was my gawd scared out of hIS pantIes ? ? Who wuz agom' tew pay fer the damage'
. . And It was my first tnp out fer the company, ? ? And I sez, yer hIghness, It IS nothIng,
? ? We WIll gIve yew a new one And, my Chnstl
? ? The company backed me, and dId we get a few orders) ,. So La Marquesa de las ZOJas y Hurbara
Used to dnve up to SIr Zenos's place
10 the Champs Elysees
And presIde at hIS dInners, and at las once
She drove away from the front dool, WIth her footmen And her coachman In lIvery, and drove four blocks round To the back door, and her husband was the son of a bItch, And Metevsky, ? ? the well-known phIlanthropIst,"
Or ? ? the well-known financIer, better known,"
As the press saId, ? ? as a phIlanthropIst,"
Gave - as the Este to LOUIS Eleventh,-
8I
? A fine paIr of gIraffes to the natIon, And endowed a chaIr of balhstlcs,
And was consulted before the offens1ves
And Mr Olge was very cholenc m a first-class From Nlce to Pans, he saId tc Dangel'
. . Now a sador's hfe IS a hfe of danger,
? ? But a nune, why every stlck of It IS numbered, ? ? And one tIme we mIssed one, 'lnd there was
? ? Three hundred men kIlled m the 'sploslOn . .
He was annoyed wIth the stnkers, havmg started hImself As engmeer and worked up, and losmg,
By that coal strIke, some months after the paragraph
SIr Zenos Metevsky has been elected PresIdent Of the Gethsemane TreblZond Petrol
And then there came out another 80 locomotlves On the Manchester CardIff have been fitted wIth New oI1-burnmg appalatus
Large stocks of the heavIer vanetles of whKh (I e 011) Are now on hand m the country
So I saId to the old quaker HamIsh,
I saId . . I am mterested" And he went putty colour And saId . . He don't advertISe No, I don't thmk You wdllearn much" That was when I aslted
About Metevsky Melchlzedek
He, Harrush, took the tractors up to
KIng Meneltk, 3 nvers and 1 4 0 raVines
. . Qu'est-ce qu'on pense ">" I satd ? ? On don't pense
? ?
They're solId bone You can amputate from Just above The medulla, and It won't alter the hfe m that Island . . But he controued, . . Mals, qu'EsT-CE qu'ON pense,
? ? De la metallurgIe, en Ang1eterre, qu'est-ce qu'on
. . Pense de Metevsky"> "
? And I saId . . They am't heard hIs name yet t. Go ask at MacGorvlsh's bank"
The Jap observers were much amused because The TurkIsh freemasons hadn't bothered to Tale the regImental b'ldges off theIr artIllery And old HamIsh Menehk
Had a hunch that machmery and so on But he never could get It to work,
never could get any power
The Germans wd send htm up bouers, but they'd Have to cut 'em mto pIeces to load 'em on camels, And they never got 'em together agaIn
And so old HamISh went out there,
And looked at the place, 3 rIvers
And a hundred and forty ravmes,
And he sent out two tractors, one to pull on the other And Menehk sent down an army, a 5000 black army WIth hawsers, and they all sweated and swatted
And the first thmg Dave ht on when they got there Was a buzz-saw,
And he put It through an ebony log whhsssh, t ttt, Two days' work 10 three mInutes
War, one war after another,
Men start 'em who couldn't put up a good hen-roost
Also sabotage
? XIX
SABOTAGE:> Yes, he took It up to Manhattan,
To the bIg company, and they s'ud ImpossIble
And he saId I gawt ten thousand dollars tew mak 'em, And I am a gom' tew mal 'em, and }ou'll damn well Have to mstall 'em, awl over the place
And they sald Oh, we can't have lt
So he settled for one-half of one mxlhon
And he has a very nice place on the Hudson,
And that mvennon, patent, 15 stillm theIr desk
And the answer to that IS Wa'al he had the ten thousand And old Spmder, that put up the 1870 gothick memonal. He tned to pull me on Marx, and he told me
About the ? ? romance of hIS busmess "
How he came to England With somethmg or other,
and sold 1t
Only he wanted to talk about Marx, so I sez
Waal haow 1S It you're over here, rIght off the Champz Elyza'>
And how can yew be here> Why don't the fellers at home Take It all off you'> How can you leave your big busmess'> tC Oh," he sez, tC I am't had to rent any money
tC It's a long time smce I am't had tew rent any money" Nawthm' more about Das Kapltal,
Or credit, or d15tnbunon
And he . . never :finIShed the book,"
That was the other chap, the slender dtplomatdentlst QUl se ialSalt SI beau
So we sat there, With the old kmdly professor, And the stubby httIe man was up-stairs
And there was the sItek guy In the other
84
? corner readIng The Tatler,
Not upside down, but never turning the pages,
And then I went up to the bed-room, and he saId, The stubby fellow Perfectly true,
. . But It'S a question of feeling,
. . Can't move 'em with a cold thing, lIke economICS ? ? And so we came down staIrs and went out,
And the slIck guy looked out of the Window, And In carne the street" Lemme-at-'em "
lIke a bull-dog In a mackintosh
o my Cho'
Then the telephone dIdn't work for a week
Ever seen Pnshmp, lIttle hunchback,
Couldn't take hIm for any army
And he saId I haf a messache from dh' professor,
<< There's lots of 'em want to go over,
. . But when they try to go over,
. . Dh' hRusslan boys shoot 'em, and they want to know . . How to go over"
Vlettmann:> was out there, and that was,
Say, two months later, and he said
. . Jolly chaps," he saId, (C they used to go by
to Under my Window, at two o'clock In the mornmg, . . All SInging, all sIngtng the He Sloveny'"
Yes, Vlettmann, and the RUSSIan boys dldn't shoot'em Short story, entItled, the Blrth of a Natlon
And there was that sqUIrt of an Ausstrrlan With a rose m hIS button-hole,
And how the hell he stayed on here,
nght through the whole bhloody bUSiness,
Cocky as Khmtnoze, and enJoymg every Boche VIctOry. Naphtha, or some damn thmg for the submarmes,
85
? Like they had, Just had, to have the hemp via Rotterdam
Das thust du nIcht, Albert)
That was 10 the old days, all sItting around In arm-chaIrs, And that's gone, lIke the cake shops 10 the Nevsky
<<No use telhng 'em anythmg, revoh. . tlOn. lneS,
Till they're at the end,
Oh, absolootly, A T the end of theIr tether
Governed Governed the place from a tram,
Or rather from three trams, on a raIlway,
And he'd keep about three days ahead of the lobby, I mean he had hIS government on the trams,
And the lobby had to get there on horseback,
And he said Blgod It'S damn funny,
Own half the ou In the world, and can't get enough To run a government engme' "
And then they Jawed for two hours,
And finally Steff saId Will you fellows show me a map) And they brought one, and Steff said
. . Waal what are those hnes)" "Y es, those straIght lmes " ? ? Those are roads I t A nd'? what are those lInes,
. . The WIggly ones)" . . RIvers"
And Steff saId ? ? Government property) . .
So two hours later an engme went off WIth the order How to dIg WIthout confiscation
And Tommy Baymont saId to Steff one day
? ? You thmk we run It, lemme tell you,
? ? We bought a cOalmme, I mean the mortgage fell In, . . And you'd a' thought we could run It
. . Well I had to go down there meself, and the manager ? ? Said ? ? Run It, of course we can run It,
. . We can't sell the damn coal"
86
? So I saId to the X and B Central,
- you'd say we boss the X and B Central>-
I saId You buy your damn coal from our mme
And a year later they hadn't, so I had up the dIrectors, And they saId well anyhow, they couldn't
buy the damn coal And next week ole JIm came, the bIg fat one
WIth the dIamonds, and he saId . . Mr Baymont, You Just must charge two dollars more
A ton fer that coal And the X and B wIll Take It through US . .
. . So there was my ole man SIttIng,
They were In arm-chaIrs, accordmg to protocol, And next hIm hIS nephew Mr Wurmsdorf, And old Ptierstoff, for purely famIly reasons, Personal reasons, was held In great esteem
by hIS relatIves,
And he had hIS despatches from St Petersburg,
And Wurmsdorf had hIS from VIenna,
And he knew, and they knew, and each knew That the other knew that the other knew he knew, And Wurmsdorf was Just reachmg mto hIS pocket, That was to start thIngs, and then my ole man SaId It
Albert, and the rest of It Those days are gone by {or ever"
. . Ten years gone, ten years of my hfe,
Never get those ten years back agam
Ten years of my hfe, ten years 1ll the IndIan army,
But anyhow, there was that tIme 1ll Yash (Jassy)
That was somethIng, 14 gxrls m a fortmght "
. . Healthy but vermInous'>" . . That's It, healthy but verminOUS
And one tIme In KashmIr,
? In the houseboats, wIth the turquoIse,
A pIle three feet hIgh on the boat floor, And they'd be there all day at a bargam For ten bobs' worth of turquoISe"
88
? xx
SOUND slender, quasI tInnula,
Llgur' aOlde Sl no'us Vel, Domna don plus ml cal, Negus vezer mon bel pensar no val"
Between the two almond trees flowering,
The vlel held close to hIs sIde,
And another s'adora"
. . Possum ego naturae
non memlWsse tuae I " QUl son ProperZlo ed OVldlo
The boughs are not more fresh
where the almond shoots
take thelr March green
And that year I went up to Frelburg,
And Rennert had saId Nobody, no, nobody
Knows anything about Proven~al, or If there 1$ anybody, It's old Levy "
And so I went up to Frelburg,
And the vacatlOn was Just beginning,
The students getting off for the summer, Fretburg 1m Bre15gau,
And everything clean, seemmg clean, after Italy
And I went to old Levy, and It was by then 6 30
In the evenlOg, and he traIled half way across Frelburg before dinner, to see the two strIpS of copy,
Arnaut's, settant'uno R supenore (Ambroslana)
Not that I could SlOg hIm the muSIc
And he saId Now 1$ there anythIng I can tell you)" And I sald I dunno, SIr, or
. . Yes, Doctor, what do they mean by notganJTes~" And he SaId NOlgandresl NOIgandres'
89
? to You know for seex mon's of my hfe
. . Effery nIght when I go to bctt, I say to myself
. . NOlgandres, eh, notgandres,
. . Now what the DEFFIL can that mean' "
Wind over the olIve trees, ranunculae ordered,
By the cleal edge of the rocks
The water runs, and the wind scented wIth pine And WIth hay-fields under sun-swath
AgostinO, ]acopo and Boccata
You would be happy for the smell of that place And never tIred of being there, eIther alone
Or accompanIed
Sound as of the nIghtmgale too far off to be heard Sandra, and Boccata, and Jacopo SellalO,
The ranunculre, and almond,
Boughs set In espaher,
DUCCIO, Agostino, e I'olors -
The smell of that place - d'enol games AIr moving under the boughs,
The cedars there m the sun,
Hay new cut on hIll slope,
And the water there In the cut
Between the two lower meadows, sound, The sound, as I have saId, a mghtIngale Too far off to be heard
And the lIght falls, rel1ttr,
from her breast to thIghs
He was plaYing there at the palla
ParlSIna - two doves for an altar - at the Wlndow~ . . B'l Marchese
Stava per lwentr pazzo
after It all" And that was when Troy was down
And they came here and cut holes In rock, Pown Rome way, and put up the tlmbers,
90
? And came here, condIt Atesten
? ? Peace' keep the peace, Borso"
And he said Some bItch has sold us (that was Ganelon)
? ? They wont get another such IVOry"
And he lay there on the round hul under the cedar A httle to the left of the cut (Este speakmg)
By the side of the summIt, and he saId
"I have broken the horn, bigod, I have te Broke the best IVOry, l'olofans" And he saId cc Tan mare fustes' "
pullmg hxmself over the gravel, . . Blgod' that buggar 15 done for,
te They wont get another such IVOry"
And they were there before the wall, Toro, las almenas,
(Este, NIC Este speakmg)
Under the battlement (Epi purgo) peur de la hasle,
And the KIng saxd
c. God what a woman'
My God what a woman" Said the Kmg tela rigido
. . Sister' . . says Ancures, . . '5 your sister' "
Alf left that town to ElVira, and Sancho wanted It from her, Taro and Zamora
. . Bloody spaniard'
Neestho, le'er go back
m the autumn " "Este, go' damn you" between the walls, arras,
Painted to look hke arras
Jungle Glaze green and red feathers, Jungie,
BaslS of renewal, renewals,
Rtsmg over the soul, green vlrld, of the Jungle, Lozenge of the pavement, clear shapes, Broken, dlSrupted, body eternal,
91
? WJ1derness of renewals, confusIOn BasIS of renewals, subsIstence, Glazed green of the Jungle,
Zoe, Marozla, Zothar,
loud over the banners, Glazed grape, and the crImson,
HO BIOS,
COSI Elena vedI,
In the sunlIght, gate cut by the shadow,
And then the faceted aIr
Floatmg Below, sea churmng shmgle FloatIng, each on 10VIsIbie raft,
On the hIgh current, 10Vlsible flUId, Borne over the pla1O, recumbent,
The rtght arm cast back,
the nght WrIst for a pulow, The left hand lIke a calyx,
Thumb held agamst finger, the thIrd,
The first fingers petal'd up, the hand as a lamp, A calyx
From toe to head
The purple, blue-pale smoke, as of 1Ocense,
Wrapped each 10 burnous, smoke as the olIbanum's, SWift, as If JOYous
Wrapped, floatmg, and the blue-pale smoke of the 1OcensE' SWIft to nse, then lazuy 10 the wmd
as Aeolus over bean-field,
As hay 10 the sun, the olIbanum, saffron, As myrrh wIthout styrax,
Each man In hIS cloth, as on raft, . :>n
The hIgh mVIsible current, On toward the fall of water,
And then over that cataract,
In aIr, strong, the brIght flames, V shaped,
Nd fuoco
? D'amore nu mIse, nel fuoco d'amore ml mISe Yellow, bnght saffron, croceo,
And as the ohbanum bursts Into flame,
The bodIes so flamed In the aIr, took flame,
. . M1 mlSe, II miO sposo novello " Shot from stream Into SPital,
Or followed the water Or looked back to the flov,omg, Others approaclung that cataract,
As to dawn out of shadow, the swathed cloths
Now purple and orange,
And the blue water dusky beneath them, pouring there mto the cataract,
WIth nOIse of sea over slungle, strllung WIth
hah hah ahah thmm, thunb, ah
woh woh araha thumm, bhaaa And from the floatmg bodIes, the Incense
blue-pale, purple above them Shelf of the lotophagol,
Aenal, cut In the aether
Recltmng,
Wlth the sllver spilla,
The ball as of melted amber, colled, caught up, and turned Lotophagol of the suave nalls, qUlet, scornful,
V oce-profondo
? ? Feared nelther death nor pam for thIS beauty, I f harm, harm to ourselves"
And beneath the clear bones, far down, Thousand on thousand
. . What gain Wlth Odysseus, . . They that dled In the whlrlpool
. . And after many vam labours,
. . LIVing by stolen meat, chained to the rOWlngbench, ? ? That he should have a great fame
93
? c. And he by mght wIth the goddess) . . TheIr names are not wntten m bronze
. . Nor theIr rowmg stIcks set WIth Elpenor's, . . Nor have they mound by sea-bord
. . That saw never the ohves under Spartha . c WIth the leaves green and then not green,
. . The chck of lIght m theIr branches,
. . That saw not the bronze hall nor the mgle
. . Nor lay there WIth the queen's W'l. ltmg maIds,
. . Nor had they CIrce to couch-mate, CIrce Tltama, c. Nor had they meats of Kalupso
. . Or her stlk skIrts brushmg theIr thIghs
. . GIve' What were they glven:l
Ear-wax
. c POlson and ear-wax,
and a salt grave by the bull-field, . . neson amumona, theIr heads hke sea crows m the foam,
c. Black splotches, sea-weed under lIghtnmg,
. . Canned beef of Apollo, ten cans for a boat load . . Llgur' aOlde
And from the plam whence the water-shoot,
Across, back, to the nght, the roads, a way m the grass, The Khan's huntIng leopard, and young Salustlo
And Ixotta, the suave turf
Ac ferae famlhares, and the cars slowly,
And the panthers, soft-footed
Plam, as the plam of Somnus,
the heavy cars, as a trIumph,
Gtlded, heavy on wheel,
and the panthers chamed to the cars,
Over suave turf, the form wrapped,
Rose, cnmson, deep crImson,
And, m the blue dusk, a colour as of rust m the sun. lIght, Out of whtte cloud, mOVIng over the plam,
94
? Head In arm's curve, H:chnmg,
The road, back and away, tIll cut along the face of the rock, And the clIff folds In hke a curtam,
The road cut m under the rock
Square groove In the clxtf's face, as chioStrx,
The columns crystal, WIth peacocks cut In the capItals,
The soft pad of beasts dragging the cars,
Cars, slow, WIthout creak,
And at wmdows In Inner roadsIde
Ie donne e I cavalIerI
smooth face under hennm, The sleeves embroIdered wIth flowers, Great thIstle of gold, or an amaranth,
Acorns of gold, or of scarlet, CramOlSl and ruaspre
slashed whIte mto velvet,
Crystal columns, acanthus, suens In the pIllar heads, And at last, between gIlded barocco,
Two columns coIled and fluted,
Vanoka, leanmg half naked,
. . Peace'
waste hall there behmd her Borso ,Borso'"
95
? XXI
KEEP the peace, Borso'" Where are we' ? ? Keep on wIth the busxness,
That"s made me,
. . And the res pubhca didn't . . When I was broke, and a poor kid,
. . They all knew me, all of these czttaatnt,
. . And they all of them cut me dead, della glona " Intestate, I42. ! h leavmg I78,22. I flOrIns dt sugello,
As IS Sald In CoSImO'S red leather note book Dl sugello And . . With rus credit emptled Vemce of money " -
That was CoSlffiO-
. . And Naples, and made them accept Ius peace" And he caught the young boy FIClno
And had hlffi taught the greek language,
. . WIth two ells of red cloth per person
I wdl make you ", COSlffiO speakmg, ? ? as many Honest citizens as you desire"
Col credlto suo
Napoh e Venezia dl danarl
Costrettl Napoh e VeneZIa a quella pace Or another tIme oh well, pass It
And Ptero called In the credits,
(DlotlSalvl was back of that)
And firms faded as far off as AVlgnon,
And Plero was hke to be murdered,
And young Lauro came down ahead of hIm, In the road, And sald Yes, father 15 commg
Intestate, '69, 10 December, leaVlng me 2. 37,989 florins, As you will :find In my bIg green account book
In carta dl capretto,
? And from '34 when I count It, to last year,
We paId out 600,000 and over,
That was for bwldmg, taxes and charIty
Nlc Uzano saw us commg Agamst It, honest, And warned 'em They'd have murdered hun, And would Coslmo, but he bnbed 'em,
And they dId m GIulIano E dIffiClle, A Frrenze dIfficlle vlver rlcco
Senza aver 10 stato
. . E non avendo stato PICCInmo
. . Doveva temerlo qualunque era m stato, ? ?
And to that man sweated blood to put through that raIlway", to Could you", wrote Mr Jefferson,
to FInd me a gardener
Who can play the french horn;l
The bounds of Amencan fortune
Wtll not admIt the mdulgence of a domestIc band of MusIClans, yet I have thought that a passIon for musIc
MIght be reconctled WIth that economy whIch we are Obhged to observe I retaIn among my domestIc servants
A gardener, a weaver, a cabInet-maker, and a stone-cutter, To whIch I would add a vIgneron In a country hke yours
(Id est Burgundy) where musIc IS cultIvated and
PractIsed by every class of men, I suppose there mIght
Be found persons of these trades who could perform on The french horn, clanonet, or hautboy and bassoon, so That one mIght have a band of two french horns, two Clanonets, two hautboys and a bassoon, WIthout enlargIng Thetr domestIc expenses A certamty of employment for Half a dozen years
(affattgandosepersuop,acer0 non)
And at the end of that tIme, to find them, If they
Choose, a conveyance to theIr own country, mIght mduce Them to come here on reasonable wages WIthout meanmg to GIve you trouble, perhaps I t mIght be practIcable for you
97
? In your ordInary Intercourse wlth your people to find out Such men dlsposed to come to AmerIca Sobrlety and good Nature would be deslrable parts of theIr characters . .
June 1778 Montecello
And 1Q July I went up to Mtlan for Duke Galeaz TosponsorhIsInfantIn baptlsm,
Albeit were others more worthy,
And took hlS Wlfe a gold collar holdIng a dIamond That cost about 3000 ducats, on wh1ch account That S1gnor Galeaz Sforza VIScontI has WIshed me To stand sponsor to all of hls chIldren
Another war Wlthout glory, and another peace Without qwet
And the Sultan sent him an assaSSin, hIS brother,
And the Soldan of Egypt, a hon,
And he begat one pope and one son and four daughters, And an Unlvers1ty, P1sa, (Lauro Medlc1)
And nearly went broke In Ius busmess,
And bought land In Siena and Plsa,
And made peace by hiS own talk In Naples And there was grass on the floor of the temple, Or where the floor of It might have been,
Gold fades In the gloom,
Under the blue-black roof, Placlma's, Of the exarchate. and we Sit here
By the arena. les gradms
And the palazzo, baseless, hangs there 1Q the dawn WIth low mISt over the tide-mark,?
