Night Litany ODIEU,
purifiez
nos cceurs!
Ezra-Pound-Exult-at-Ions
?
Exultations of
Ezra Pound
? University of California Berkeley
From the library of
JAMES D. HART
? r\
x
? EXULTATIONS
? EXULTATIONS OF
EZRA POUND
LONDON
ELKIN MATHEWS, VIGO STREET MCMIX
? / am an eternal spirit and the things I make are but ephemera^ yet I endure:
Yea, and the little earth crumbles beneath ourfeet and we endure.
? TO
CARLOS TRACY CHESTER
" amicitiae
"
longaevitate
? I HAVE to thank the Editors of the English Review and the Evening-
Standard and St. James's Gazette for permission to include in this volume certain poems which origin ally appeared in those papers.
? t
HISTRION . . . . * vii
CONTENTS GUIDOINVITESYOUTHUS. .
NIGHT LITANY . . SANDALPHON. .
SESTINA : ALTAFORTE PIEREVIDALOLD .
BALLAD OF THE GOODLY FERE
PAGE . . . . 9
HYMN III FROM THE LATIN OF FLAMINIUS SESTINA FOR YSOLT . . . . . PORTRAIT (FROM "LA MERE INCONNUE")
25 26
27 . 32
-33
38
. .
. .
. .
. .
. .
.
f .
. .
. .
. .
. 10 . 12
. 14 . 16
. 19 . 22
. 23
. . . . .
FAIR HELENA
LAUDANTES DECEM
Aux BELLES DE LONDRES
FRANCESCA
GREEKEPIGRAM. . . . -. 34 COLUMBUS'EPITAPH . . . . . 35 PLOTINUS. . . * . . . . 36 ON HIS OWN FACE IN A GLASS . . . . 37
. '. .
.
? . . .
PAGE . . . 39
THE EYES . .
DEFIANCE. . . . . . . .
v
40 41 42 43 44 46 48 50
SONG.
NEL BlANCHEGGIAR
NILS LYKKE
A SONG OF THE VIRGIN MOTHER PLANHFORTHEYOUNGENGLISHKING . . ALBA INNOMINATA
PLANH
. .
. . .
? EXULTATIONS
Guido invites you thus 1 I leave behind and Dante too,
LAPPO
Lo,
I would sail the
seas
with
thee alone
!
Talk me no love talk, no bought-cheap fiddl'ry, Mine is the ship and thine the merchandise, All the blind earth knows not th' emprise Whereto thou calledst and whereto I call.
Lo, I have seen thee bound about with dreams, Lo, I have known thy heart and its desire ; Life, all of it, my sea, and all men's streams Are fused in it as flames of an altar fire !
"
Lo, thou hast voyaged not ! The ship is mine. 1 ThereferenceistoDante'ssonnet"Guidovorrei. . . "
? Night Litany ODIEU, purifiez nos cceurs!
purifiez nos coeurs
!
Yea the lines hast thou laid unto me
in pleasant places, And the beauty of this thy Venice
hast thou shown unto me Until is its loveliness become unto me
a thing of tears.
O God, what great kindness
have we done in times past
and forgotten it,
That thou givest this wonder unto us,
O God of waters?
O God of the night
What great sorrow
Cometh unto us,
That thou thus repayest us
Before the time of its coming?
O God of silence,
Purifiez nos cceurs,
Purifiez nos cceurs, For we have seen
The glory of the shadow of the likeness of thine handmaid,
? Yea, the glory of the shadow of thy Beauty hath walked
Upon the shadow of the waters In this thy Venice.
And before the holiness Of the shadow of thy handmaid
Have I hidden mine eyes, O God of waters.
O God of silence,
Purifiez nos cceurs,
Purifiez nos cceurs,
O God of waters,
make clean our hearts within us
And our lips to show forth thy praise, For I have seen the
Shadow of this thy Venice
Floating upon the waters, And thy stars
Have seen this thing- out of their far courses Have they seen this thing,
O God of waters, Even as are thy stars
Silent unto us in their far-coursing, Even so is mine heart
become silent within me.
Purifiez nos cceurs
O God of the silence^
Purifiez nos coeurs
O God of waters.
ii
? Sandalphon
The angel of prayer according- to the Talmud stands unmoved among the angels of wind and fire, who die as their one song is finished, also as he gathers the prayers they turn to flowers in his hands.
AND Because
the of the infinite pain
singing
these about me die,
Slayeth them.
Ye that have sung of the pain of the earth-horde's
age-long crusading,
Ye know somewhat the strain,
the sad-sweet wonder-pain of such singing. And therefore ye know after what fashion
This singing hath power destroying.
Yea, these about me, bearing such song in homage Unto the Mover of Circles,
Die for the might of their praising,
And the autumn of their marcescent wings
Maketh ever new loam for my forest ;
And these grey ash trees hold within them All the secrets of whatso things
They dreamed before their praises,
And in this grove my flowers,
Fruit of prayerful powers,
Have first their thought of life
And then their being. 12
? Ye marvel that I die not ! forsitan \
Thinking me kin with such as may not weep, Thinking- me part of them that die for praising
yea, tho' it be praising,
past the power of man's mortality to dream or name its phases,
yea, tho' it chant and paean past the might of earth-dwelt soul to think on,
yea, tho' it be praising
as these the winged ones die of.
Ye think me one insensate else die I also
Sith these about me die,
And if I, watching
Ever the multiplex jewel, of beryl and jasper
and sapphire Make of these prayers of earth ever new flowers ;
Marvel and wonder !
Marvel and wonder even as I,
Giving to prayer new language And causing the works to speak
Of the earth-horde's age-lasting longing, Even as I marvel and wonder, and know not, Yet keep my watch in the ash wood.
? Sestina: Altaforte
LOQUITUR : En Bertrans de Born.
Dante Alighieri put this man in hell for that he was a stirrer- up of strife.
Eccovi !
Judge ye !
Have I dug him up again?
The scene is at his castle, Altaforte.
The Leopard," the device of Richard (Cceur de Lion).
I
it all! all this our South stinks peace.
DAMYoNu whoreson dog, Papiols, come! Let's to music !
I have no life save when the swords clash.
But ah ! when I see the standards gold, vair, purple,
opposing
And the broad fields beneath them turn crimson,
Then howl I my heart nigh mad with rejoicing.
II
In hot summer have I great rejoicing
When the tempests kill the earth's foul peace,
And the light'nings from black heav'n flash crimson, And the fierce thunders roar me their music
And the winds shriek through the clouds mad, opposing, And through all the riven skies God's swords clash.
HI
Hell grant soon we hear again the swords clash !
And the shrill neighs of destriers in battle rejoicing, Spiked breast to spiked breast opposing!
""
Papiols is his jongleur.
? Better one hour's stour than a year's peace With fat boards, bawds, wine and frail music ! Bah ! there's no wine like the blood's crimson !
IV
And I love to see the sun rise blood-crimson.
And I watch his spears through the dark clash And it fills all my heart with rejoicing
And pries wide my mouth with fast music When I see him so scorn and defy peace,
His lone might 'gainst all darkness opposing.
V
The man who fears war and squats opposing
My words for stour, hath no blood of crimson
But is fit only to rot in womanish peace
Far from where worth's won and the swords clash For the death of such sluts I go rejoicing;
Yea, I fill all the air with my music.
VI
Papiols, Papiols, to the music !
There's no sound like to swords swords opposing, No cry like the battle's rejoicing
When our elbows and swords drip the crimson
And our charges 'gainst "The Leopard's" rush clash. May God damn for ever all who cry " Peace "
!
VII
And let the music of the swords make them crimson !
Hell grant soon we hear again the swords clash !
Hell blot black for alway the thought " Peace " IS
!
? Piere Vidal Old
It is of Piere Vidal, the fool par excellence of all Provence, of whom the tale tells how he ran mad, as a wolf, because of his love for Loba of Penautier, and how men hunted him with dogs through the mountains of Cabaret and brought him for dead to the dwelling of this Loba (she-wolf) of Penautier, and how she and her Lord had him healed and made welcome, and he stayed some time at thatcourt. Hespeaks:
WHEN I but think upon the great dead days d turn mind that
An
Lo ! I do curse my strength
And blame the sun his gladness ; For that the one is dead
And the red sun mocks my sadness.
my upon splendid madness,
Behold me, Vidal, that was fool of fools !
Swift as the king wolf was I and as strong
When tall stags fled me through the alder brakes, And every jongleur knew me in his song,
And the hounds fled and the deer fled
And none fled over long.
Even the grey pack knew me and knew fear. God ! how the swiftest hind's blood spurted hot
Over the sharpened teeth and purpling lips !
Hot was that hind's blood yet it scorched me not As did first scorn, then lips of the Penautier !
Aye ye are fools, if ye think time can blot 16
? From Piere Vidal's remembrance that blue night. God ! but the purple of the sky was deep !
Clear, deep, translucent, so the stars me seemed
Set deep in crystal ; and because my sleep
Rare visitor came not, the Saints I guerdon
Forthatrestlessness Pieresettokeep
One more fool's vigil with the hollyhocks.
Swift came the Loba, as a branch that's caught, Torn, green and silent in the swollen Rhone,
Green was her mantle, close, and wrought
Of some thin silk stuff that's scarce stuff at all,
But like a mist wherethrough her white form fought,
And conquered! Ah God! conquered! Silent my mate came as the night was still.
Speech? Words? Faugh! Who talks of words and love?
Night Litany ODIEU, purifiez nos cceurs!
purifiez nos coeurs
!
Yea the lines hast thou laid unto me
in pleasant places, And the beauty of this thy Venice
hast thou shown unto me Until is its loveliness become unto me
a thing of tears.
O God, what great kindness
have we done in times past
and forgotten it,
That thou givest this wonder unto us,
O God of waters?
O God of the night
What great sorrow
Cometh unto us,
That thou thus repayest us
Before the time of its coming?
O God of silence,
Purifiez nos cceurs,
Purifiez nos cceurs, For we have seen
The glory of the shadow of the likeness of thine handmaid,
? Yea, the glory of the shadow of thy Beauty hath walked
Upon the shadow of the waters In this thy Venice.
And before the holiness Of the shadow of thy handmaid
Have I hidden mine eyes, O God of waters.
O God of silence,
Purifiez nos cceurs,
Purifiez nos cceurs,
O God of waters,
make clean our hearts within us
And our lips to show forth thy praise, For I have seen the
Shadow of this thy Venice
Floating upon the waters, And thy stars
Have seen this thing- out of their far courses Have they seen this thing,
O God of waters, Even as are thy stars
Silent unto us in their far-coursing, Even so is mine heart
become silent within me.
Purifiez nos cceurs
O God of the silence^
Purifiez nos coeurs
O God of waters.
ii
? Sandalphon
The angel of prayer according- to the Talmud stands unmoved among the angels of wind and fire, who die as their one song is finished, also as he gathers the prayers they turn to flowers in his hands.
AND Because
the of the infinite pain
singing
these about me die,
Slayeth them.
Ye that have sung of the pain of the earth-horde's
age-long crusading,
Ye know somewhat the strain,
the sad-sweet wonder-pain of such singing. And therefore ye know after what fashion
This singing hath power destroying.
Yea, these about me, bearing such song in homage Unto the Mover of Circles,
Die for the might of their praising,
And the autumn of their marcescent wings
Maketh ever new loam for my forest ;
And these grey ash trees hold within them All the secrets of whatso things
They dreamed before their praises,
And in this grove my flowers,
Fruit of prayerful powers,
Have first their thought of life
And then their being. 12
? Ye marvel that I die not ! forsitan \
Thinking me kin with such as may not weep, Thinking- me part of them that die for praising
yea, tho' it be praising,
past the power of man's mortality to dream or name its phases,
yea, tho' it chant and paean past the might of earth-dwelt soul to think on,
yea, tho' it be praising
as these the winged ones die of.
Ye think me one insensate else die I also
Sith these about me die,
And if I, watching
Ever the multiplex jewel, of beryl and jasper
and sapphire Make of these prayers of earth ever new flowers ;
Marvel and wonder !
Marvel and wonder even as I,
Giving to prayer new language And causing the works to speak
Of the earth-horde's age-lasting longing, Even as I marvel and wonder, and know not, Yet keep my watch in the ash wood.
? Sestina: Altaforte
LOQUITUR : En Bertrans de Born.
Dante Alighieri put this man in hell for that he was a stirrer- up of strife.
Eccovi !
Judge ye !
Have I dug him up again?
The scene is at his castle, Altaforte.
The Leopard," the device of Richard (Cceur de Lion).
I
it all! all this our South stinks peace.
DAMYoNu whoreson dog, Papiols, come! Let's to music !
I have no life save when the swords clash.
But ah ! when I see the standards gold, vair, purple,
opposing
And the broad fields beneath them turn crimson,
Then howl I my heart nigh mad with rejoicing.
II
In hot summer have I great rejoicing
When the tempests kill the earth's foul peace,
And the light'nings from black heav'n flash crimson, And the fierce thunders roar me their music
And the winds shriek through the clouds mad, opposing, And through all the riven skies God's swords clash.
HI
Hell grant soon we hear again the swords clash !
And the shrill neighs of destriers in battle rejoicing, Spiked breast to spiked breast opposing!
""
Papiols is his jongleur.
? Better one hour's stour than a year's peace With fat boards, bawds, wine and frail music ! Bah ! there's no wine like the blood's crimson !
IV
And I love to see the sun rise blood-crimson.
And I watch his spears through the dark clash And it fills all my heart with rejoicing
And pries wide my mouth with fast music When I see him so scorn and defy peace,
His lone might 'gainst all darkness opposing.
V
The man who fears war and squats opposing
My words for stour, hath no blood of crimson
But is fit only to rot in womanish peace
Far from where worth's won and the swords clash For the death of such sluts I go rejoicing;
Yea, I fill all the air with my music.
VI
Papiols, Papiols, to the music !
There's no sound like to swords swords opposing, No cry like the battle's rejoicing
When our elbows and swords drip the crimson
And our charges 'gainst "The Leopard's" rush clash. May God damn for ever all who cry " Peace "
!
VII
And let the music of the swords make them crimson !
Hell grant soon we hear again the swords clash !
Hell blot black for alway the thought " Peace " IS
!
? Piere Vidal Old
It is of Piere Vidal, the fool par excellence of all Provence, of whom the tale tells how he ran mad, as a wolf, because of his love for Loba of Penautier, and how men hunted him with dogs through the mountains of Cabaret and brought him for dead to the dwelling of this Loba (she-wolf) of Penautier, and how she and her Lord had him healed and made welcome, and he stayed some time at thatcourt. Hespeaks:
WHEN I but think upon the great dead days d turn mind that
An
Lo ! I do curse my strength
And blame the sun his gladness ; For that the one is dead
And the red sun mocks my sadness.
my upon splendid madness,
Behold me, Vidal, that was fool of fools !
Swift as the king wolf was I and as strong
When tall stags fled me through the alder brakes, And every jongleur knew me in his song,
And the hounds fled and the deer fled
And none fled over long.
Even the grey pack knew me and knew fear. God ! how the swiftest hind's blood spurted hot
Over the sharpened teeth and purpling lips !
Hot was that hind's blood yet it scorched me not As did first scorn, then lips of the Penautier !
Aye ye are fools, if ye think time can blot 16
? From Piere Vidal's remembrance that blue night. God ! but the purple of the sky was deep !
Clear, deep, translucent, so the stars me seemed
Set deep in crystal ; and because my sleep
Rare visitor came not, the Saints I guerdon
Forthatrestlessness Pieresettokeep
One more fool's vigil with the hollyhocks.
Swift came the Loba, as a branch that's caught, Torn, green and silent in the swollen Rhone,
Green was her mantle, close, and wrought
Of some thin silk stuff that's scarce stuff at all,
But like a mist wherethrough her white form fought,
And conquered! Ah God! conquered! Silent my mate came as the night was still.
Speech? Words? Faugh! Who talks of words and love? !
Hot is such love and silent,
Silent as fate is, and as strong until It faints in taking and in giving all.
Stark, keen, triumphant, till it plays at death. God ! she was white then, splendid as some tomb
High wrought of marble, and the panting breath Ceased utterly. Well, then I waited, drew, Half-sheathed, then naked from its saffron sheath Drew full this dagger that doth tremble here.
Just then she woke and mocked the less keen blade. Ah God, the Loba ! and my only mate !
Was there such flesh made ever and unmade !
17
B
? God curse the years that turn such women grey !
Behold here Vidal, that was hunted, flayed, Shamed and yet bowed not and that won at last.
And yet I curse the sun for his red gladness,
I that have known strath, garth, brake, dale,
And every run-way of the wood through that great
madness,
Behold me shrivelled as an old oak's trunk And made men's mock'ry in my rotten sadness !
No man hath heard the glory of my days :
No man hath dared and won his dare as I :
One night, one body and one welding flame ! What do ye own, ye niggards ! that can buy Suchgloryoftheearth? Orwhowillwin
Such battle-guerdon with his "prowesse high"?
O Age gone lax ! O stunted followers,
That mask at passions and desire desires, Behold me shrivelled, and your mock of mocks ; And yet I mock you by the mighty fires
That burnt me to this ash.
Ah ! Cabaret ! Ah Cabaret, thy hills again !
Take your hands off me ! . . . [Sniffing the air. Ha! thisscentishot!
18
? Ballad of the Goodly Fere 1 Simon Zelotes speaketh it somewhile after the Crucifixion.
we lost the goodliest fere o' all HA'For the priests and the gallows tree?
Aye lover he was of brawny men, O' ships and the open sea.
When they came wi' a host to take Our Man His smile was good to see,
"First let these go! " quo' our Goodly Fere, "Or I'll see ye damned," says he.
Aye he sent us out through the crossed high spears And the scorn of his laugh rang free,
"Why took ye not me when I walked about
Alone in the town? " says he.
Oh we drank his "Hale" in the good red wine When we last made company,
No capon priest was the Goodly Fere But a man o' men was he.
I ha' seen him drive a hundred men Wi' a bundle o' cords swung free,
That they took the high and holy house For their pawn and treasury.
1 Fere=Mate,Companion. 19
? They'll no' get him a' in a book I think
Though they write it cunningly ;
No mouse of the scrolls was the Goodly Fere But aye loved the open sea.
If they think they ha' snared our Goodly Fere They are fools to the last degree.
"I'll go to the feast," quo' our Goodly Fere, "Though I go to the gallows tree. "
"Ye ha' seen me heal the lame and blind,
And wake the dead," says he,
"Ye shall see one thing to master all: 'Tis how a brave man dies on the tree. "
A son of God was the Goodly Fere That bade us his brothers be.
I ha' seen him cow a thousand men. I have seen him upon the tree.
He cried no cry when they drave the nails And the blood gushed hot and free,
The hounds of the crimson sky gave tongue But never a cry cried he.
I ha' seen him cow a thousand men
On the hills o' Galilee,
They whined as he walked out calm between, Wi' his eyes like the grey o' the sea.
20
? Like the sea that brooks no voyaging With the winds unleashed and free, Like the sea that he cowed at Genseret
Wi' twey words spoke' suddently.
A master of men was the Goodly Fere,
A mate of the wind and sea,
If they think they ha' slain our Goodly Fere They are fools eternally.
I ha' seen him eat o' the honey-comb Sin' they nailed him to the tree.
V The Publisher desires to state that the "Ballad of the
"
asitappearedinthe EnglishReview.
Goodly Fere
by the ivish of the Author is reproduced exactly ""
21
? Hymn III
From the Latin of Marc Antony Flaminius, sixteenth century.
AS a fragile and lovely flower unfolds its gleaming- foliage on the breast of the fostering earth, if the dew and the rain draw it forth ;
So doth my tender mind flourish, if it be fed with the sweet dew of the fostering spirit,
Lacking this, it beginneth straightway to languish, even as a floweret born upon dry earth, if the dew and the rain tend it not.
22
? Sestina for Ysolt
comes upon me will to speak in praise Of things most fragile in their loveliness ;
Because the sky hath wept all this long day
And wrapped men's hearts within its cloak of grey-
ness,
Because they look not down I sing the stars, Because 'tis still mid-March I praise May's flowers.
Also I praise long hands that lie as flowers
Which though they labour not are worthy praise, And praise deep eyes like pools wherein the stars Gleam out reflected in their loveliness,
For whoso look on such there is no greyness May hang about his heart on any day.
The other things that I would praise to-day ? Besides white hands and all the fragile flowers,
And by their praise dispel the evening's greyness ?
I praise dim hair that worthiest is of praise
And dream upon its unbound loveliness,
And how therethrough mine eyes have seen the stars.
Yea, through that cloud mine eyes have seen the stars That drift out slowly when night steals the day, Through such a cloud meseems their loveliness
23
? Surpasses that of all the other flowers.
For that one night I give all nights my praise
And love therefrom the twilight's coming greyness.
There is a stillness in this twilight greyness
Although the rain hath veiled the flow'ry stars, They seem to listen as I weave this praise
Of what I have not seen all this grey day, And they will tell my praise unto the flowers When May shall bid them in in loveliness.
O ye I love, who hold this loveliness
Near to your hearts, may never any greyness Enshroud your hearts when ye would gather flowers, Or bind your eyes when ye would see the stars ;
But alway do I give ye flowers by day,
And when day's plucked I give ye stars for praise.
But most, thou Flower, whose eyes are like the stars, With whom my dreams bide all the live-long day, Within thy hands would I rest all my praise.
? Portrait
From "La Mre Inconnue. "
NOW would I weave her portrait out of all dim
splendour.
Of Provence and far halls of memory,
Lo, there come echoes, faint diversity
Of blended bells at even's end, or
As the distant seas should send her
The tribute of their trembling, ceaselessly Resonant. Outofalldreamsthatbe,
Say, shall I bid the deepest dreams attend her?
Nay ! For I have seen the purplest shadows stand Alway with reverent chere that looked on her, Silence himself is grown her worshipper
And ever doth attend her in that land
Wherein she reigneth, wherefore let there stir Naught but the softest voices, praising her.
? " Fair Helena "
WHENthe purple twilight is unbound,
Rackham " What I love best in all the world? "
To
and its wistful loveliness, And to know her face
is in the shadow there, Just by two stars beneath that cloud
The soft, dim cloud of her hair, And to think my voice
can reach to her
As but the rumour of some tree-bound stream,
Heard just beyond the forest's edge, Until she all forgets I am,
And knows of me
Naught but my dream's felicity.
watch her tall
slow, grace
26
by
? Laudantes Decem Pulchritudinis
Johannae Templi
i
WHEN your beauty is grown old in all men's
songs,
And my poor words are lost amid that throng,
Then you will know the truth of my poor words,
And mayhap dreaming of the wistful throng
That hopeless sigh your praises in their songs, You will think kindly then of these mad words.
II
I am torn, torn with thy beauty,
O Rose of the sharpest thorn !
O Rose of the crimson beauty,
Why hast thou awakened the sleeper?
Why hast thou awakened the heart within me, O Rose of the crimson thorn?
Ill
The unappeasable loveliness
is calling to me out of the wind,
And because your name
is written upon the ivory doors,
The wave in my heart is as a green wave, unconfined, Tossing the white foam toward you ;
27
? And the lotus that pours
Her fragrance into the purple cup, Is more to be gained with the foam
Than are you with these words of mine.
IV
He speaks to the moonlight concerning the Beloved.
Pale hair that the moon has shaken Down over the dark breast of the sea,
magic her beauty has shaken
About the heart of me ;
Out of you have I woven a dream That shall walk in the lonely vale Betwixt the high hill and the low hill, Until the pale stream
Of the souls of men quench and grow still.
V
Voices speaking to the sun.
Red leaf that art blown upward and out and over The green sheaf of the world,
And through the dim forest and under
The shadowed arches and the aisles,
We, who are older than thou art,
Met and remembered when his eyes beheld her In the garden of the peach-trees,
In the day of the blossoming.
VI 1 stood on the hill of Yrma
when the winds were a-hurrying, 28
? With the grasses a-bending I followed them,
Through the brown grasses of Ahva unto the green of Asedon.
I have rested with the voices
in the gardens of Ahthor, I have lain beneath the peach-trees
in the hour of the purple :
Because I had awaited in
the garden of the peach-trees, Because I had feared not
in the forest of my mind, Mine eyes beheld the vision of the blossom
There in the peach-gardens past Asedon.
O winds of Yrma, let her again come unto me, Whose hair ye held unbound in the gardens of Ahthor !
VII
Because of the beautiful white shoulders and the
rounded breasts
I caninnowiseforgetmybelovedofthepeach-trees, And the little winds that speak when the dawn is
unfurled
And the rose-colour in the grey oak-leafs fold
When it first conies, and the glamour that rests On the little streams in the evening ; all of these
29
? Call me to her, and all the loveliness in the world Binds me to my beloved with strong chains of gold.
VIII
If the rose-petals which have fallen upon my eyes And if the perfect faces which I see at times
When my eyes are closed
Faces fragile, pale, yet flushed a little, like petals of
roses :
If these things have confused my memories of her So that I could not draw her face
Even if I had skill and the colours,
Yet because her face is so like these things
They but draw me nearer unto her in my thought And thoughts of her come upon my mind gently, As dew upon the petals of roses.
IX
He speaks to the rain.
O pearls that hang on your little silver chains,
The innumerable voices that are whispering Among you as you are drawn aside by the wind, Have brought to my mind the soft and eager speech Of one who hath great loveliness,
Which is subtle as the beauty of the rains That hang low in the moonshine and bring
The May softly among us, and unbind
The streams and the crimson and white flowers and
reach
Deep down into the secret places.
30
? X
The glamour of the soul hath come upon me,
And as the twilight comes upon the roses,
Walking silently among them, So have the thoughts of my heart
Gone out slowly in the twilight Toward my beloved,
Toward the crimson rose, the fairest.
? Aux Belles de Londres
AM aweary with the utter and beautiful weariness I And with the ultimate wisdom and with things
terrene,
I am aweary with your smiles and your laughter, And the sun and the winds again
Reclaim their booty and the heart o' me.
? Francesca
came in out of the night
YOAUnd there were flowers in your hands, Now you will come out of a confusion of people, Out of a turmoil of speech about you.
I who have seen you amid the primal things Was angry when they spoke your name
In ordinary places.
I would that the cool waves might flow over my
mind,
And that the world should dry as a dead leaf, Or as a dandelion seed-pod and be swept away,
So that I might find you again, Alone.
33
? Greek Epigram
and night are never weary, DAYNor yet is God of creating
For day and night their torch-bearers The aube and the crepuscule.
So, when I weary of praising the dawn and the sun
set,
Let me be no more counted among the immortals ; But number me amid the wearying ones, Letmebeamanastheherd,
And as the slave that is given in barter.
34
? Christophori Columbi Tumulus From the Latin of Hipolytus Capilupus, Early Cent. XVI.
glory of Italy, Columbus thou sure
GENOAN, light,
Alas the urn takes even thee so soon out-blown. Its little space
Doth hold thee, whom Oceanus had not the might Within his folds to hold, altho' his broad embrace Doth hold all lands.
Bark-borne beyond his bound'ries unto Hind thou wast Where scarce Fame's volant self the way had cast.
? Plotinus
one that would draw through the node of things, AS Back sweeping to the vortex of the cone,
Cloistered about with memories, alone In chaos, while the waiting silence sings :
Obliviate of cycles' wanderings
I was an atom on creation's throne
And knew all nothing my unconquered own. God! Should I be the hand upon the strings? !
But I was lonely as a lonely child.
I cried amid the void and heard no cry, And then for utter loneliness, made I
New thoughts as crescent images of me.
Ezra Pound
? University of California Berkeley
From the library of
JAMES D. HART
? r\
x
? EXULTATIONS
? EXULTATIONS OF
EZRA POUND
LONDON
ELKIN MATHEWS, VIGO STREET MCMIX
? / am an eternal spirit and the things I make are but ephemera^ yet I endure:
Yea, and the little earth crumbles beneath ourfeet and we endure.
? TO
CARLOS TRACY CHESTER
" amicitiae
"
longaevitate
? I HAVE to thank the Editors of the English Review and the Evening-
Standard and St. James's Gazette for permission to include in this volume certain poems which origin ally appeared in those papers.
? t
HISTRION . . . . * vii
CONTENTS GUIDOINVITESYOUTHUS. .
NIGHT LITANY . . SANDALPHON. .
SESTINA : ALTAFORTE PIEREVIDALOLD .
BALLAD OF THE GOODLY FERE
PAGE . . . . 9
HYMN III FROM THE LATIN OF FLAMINIUS SESTINA FOR YSOLT . . . . . PORTRAIT (FROM "LA MERE INCONNUE")
25 26
27 . 32
-33
38
. .
. .
. .
. .
. .
.
f .
. .
. .
. .
. 10 . 12
. 14 . 16
. 19 . 22
. 23
. . . . .
FAIR HELENA
LAUDANTES DECEM
Aux BELLES DE LONDRES
FRANCESCA
GREEKEPIGRAM. . . . -. 34 COLUMBUS'EPITAPH . . . . . 35 PLOTINUS. . . * . . . . 36 ON HIS OWN FACE IN A GLASS . . . . 37
. '. .
.
? . . .
PAGE . . . 39
THE EYES . .
DEFIANCE. . . . . . . .
v
40 41 42 43 44 46 48 50
SONG.
NEL BlANCHEGGIAR
NILS LYKKE
A SONG OF THE VIRGIN MOTHER PLANHFORTHEYOUNGENGLISHKING . . ALBA INNOMINATA
PLANH
. .
. . .
? EXULTATIONS
Guido invites you thus 1 I leave behind and Dante too,
LAPPO
Lo,
I would sail the
seas
with
thee alone
!
Talk me no love talk, no bought-cheap fiddl'ry, Mine is the ship and thine the merchandise, All the blind earth knows not th' emprise Whereto thou calledst and whereto I call.
Lo, I have seen thee bound about with dreams, Lo, I have known thy heart and its desire ; Life, all of it, my sea, and all men's streams Are fused in it as flames of an altar fire !
"
Lo, thou hast voyaged not ! The ship is mine. 1 ThereferenceistoDante'ssonnet"Guidovorrei. . . "
? Night Litany ODIEU, purifiez nos cceurs!
purifiez nos coeurs
!
Yea the lines hast thou laid unto me
in pleasant places, And the beauty of this thy Venice
hast thou shown unto me Until is its loveliness become unto me
a thing of tears.
O God, what great kindness
have we done in times past
and forgotten it,
That thou givest this wonder unto us,
O God of waters?
O God of the night
What great sorrow
Cometh unto us,
That thou thus repayest us
Before the time of its coming?
O God of silence,
Purifiez nos cceurs,
Purifiez nos cceurs, For we have seen
The glory of the shadow of the likeness of thine handmaid,
? Yea, the glory of the shadow of thy Beauty hath walked
Upon the shadow of the waters In this thy Venice.
And before the holiness Of the shadow of thy handmaid
Have I hidden mine eyes, O God of waters.
O God of silence,
Purifiez nos cceurs,
Purifiez nos cceurs,
O God of waters,
make clean our hearts within us
And our lips to show forth thy praise, For I have seen the
Shadow of this thy Venice
Floating upon the waters, And thy stars
Have seen this thing- out of their far courses Have they seen this thing,
O God of waters, Even as are thy stars
Silent unto us in their far-coursing, Even so is mine heart
become silent within me.
Purifiez nos cceurs
O God of the silence^
Purifiez nos coeurs
O God of waters.
ii
? Sandalphon
The angel of prayer according- to the Talmud stands unmoved among the angels of wind and fire, who die as their one song is finished, also as he gathers the prayers they turn to flowers in his hands.
AND Because
the of the infinite pain
singing
these about me die,
Slayeth them.
Ye that have sung of the pain of the earth-horde's
age-long crusading,
Ye know somewhat the strain,
the sad-sweet wonder-pain of such singing. And therefore ye know after what fashion
This singing hath power destroying.
Yea, these about me, bearing such song in homage Unto the Mover of Circles,
Die for the might of their praising,
And the autumn of their marcescent wings
Maketh ever new loam for my forest ;
And these grey ash trees hold within them All the secrets of whatso things
They dreamed before their praises,
And in this grove my flowers,
Fruit of prayerful powers,
Have first their thought of life
And then their being. 12
? Ye marvel that I die not ! forsitan \
Thinking me kin with such as may not weep, Thinking- me part of them that die for praising
yea, tho' it be praising,
past the power of man's mortality to dream or name its phases,
yea, tho' it chant and paean past the might of earth-dwelt soul to think on,
yea, tho' it be praising
as these the winged ones die of.
Ye think me one insensate else die I also
Sith these about me die,
And if I, watching
Ever the multiplex jewel, of beryl and jasper
and sapphire Make of these prayers of earth ever new flowers ;
Marvel and wonder !
Marvel and wonder even as I,
Giving to prayer new language And causing the works to speak
Of the earth-horde's age-lasting longing, Even as I marvel and wonder, and know not, Yet keep my watch in the ash wood.
? Sestina: Altaforte
LOQUITUR : En Bertrans de Born.
Dante Alighieri put this man in hell for that he was a stirrer- up of strife.
Eccovi !
Judge ye !
Have I dug him up again?
The scene is at his castle, Altaforte.
The Leopard," the device of Richard (Cceur de Lion).
I
it all! all this our South stinks peace.
DAMYoNu whoreson dog, Papiols, come! Let's to music !
I have no life save when the swords clash.
But ah ! when I see the standards gold, vair, purple,
opposing
And the broad fields beneath them turn crimson,
Then howl I my heart nigh mad with rejoicing.
II
In hot summer have I great rejoicing
When the tempests kill the earth's foul peace,
And the light'nings from black heav'n flash crimson, And the fierce thunders roar me their music
And the winds shriek through the clouds mad, opposing, And through all the riven skies God's swords clash.
HI
Hell grant soon we hear again the swords clash !
And the shrill neighs of destriers in battle rejoicing, Spiked breast to spiked breast opposing!
""
Papiols is his jongleur.
? Better one hour's stour than a year's peace With fat boards, bawds, wine and frail music ! Bah ! there's no wine like the blood's crimson !
IV
And I love to see the sun rise blood-crimson.
And I watch his spears through the dark clash And it fills all my heart with rejoicing
And pries wide my mouth with fast music When I see him so scorn and defy peace,
His lone might 'gainst all darkness opposing.
V
The man who fears war and squats opposing
My words for stour, hath no blood of crimson
But is fit only to rot in womanish peace
Far from where worth's won and the swords clash For the death of such sluts I go rejoicing;
Yea, I fill all the air with my music.
VI
Papiols, Papiols, to the music !
There's no sound like to swords swords opposing, No cry like the battle's rejoicing
When our elbows and swords drip the crimson
And our charges 'gainst "The Leopard's" rush clash. May God damn for ever all who cry " Peace "
!
VII
And let the music of the swords make them crimson !
Hell grant soon we hear again the swords clash !
Hell blot black for alway the thought " Peace " IS
!
? Piere Vidal Old
It is of Piere Vidal, the fool par excellence of all Provence, of whom the tale tells how he ran mad, as a wolf, because of his love for Loba of Penautier, and how men hunted him with dogs through the mountains of Cabaret and brought him for dead to the dwelling of this Loba (she-wolf) of Penautier, and how she and her Lord had him healed and made welcome, and he stayed some time at thatcourt. Hespeaks:
WHEN I but think upon the great dead days d turn mind that
An
Lo ! I do curse my strength
And blame the sun his gladness ; For that the one is dead
And the red sun mocks my sadness.
my upon splendid madness,
Behold me, Vidal, that was fool of fools !
Swift as the king wolf was I and as strong
When tall stags fled me through the alder brakes, And every jongleur knew me in his song,
And the hounds fled and the deer fled
And none fled over long.
Even the grey pack knew me and knew fear. God ! how the swiftest hind's blood spurted hot
Over the sharpened teeth and purpling lips !
Hot was that hind's blood yet it scorched me not As did first scorn, then lips of the Penautier !
Aye ye are fools, if ye think time can blot 16
? From Piere Vidal's remembrance that blue night. God ! but the purple of the sky was deep !
Clear, deep, translucent, so the stars me seemed
Set deep in crystal ; and because my sleep
Rare visitor came not, the Saints I guerdon
Forthatrestlessness Pieresettokeep
One more fool's vigil with the hollyhocks.
Swift came the Loba, as a branch that's caught, Torn, green and silent in the swollen Rhone,
Green was her mantle, close, and wrought
Of some thin silk stuff that's scarce stuff at all,
But like a mist wherethrough her white form fought,
And conquered! Ah God! conquered! Silent my mate came as the night was still.
Speech? Words? Faugh! Who talks of words and love?
Night Litany ODIEU, purifiez nos cceurs!
purifiez nos coeurs
!
Yea the lines hast thou laid unto me
in pleasant places, And the beauty of this thy Venice
hast thou shown unto me Until is its loveliness become unto me
a thing of tears.
O God, what great kindness
have we done in times past
and forgotten it,
That thou givest this wonder unto us,
O God of waters?
O God of the night
What great sorrow
Cometh unto us,
That thou thus repayest us
Before the time of its coming?
O God of silence,
Purifiez nos cceurs,
Purifiez nos cceurs, For we have seen
The glory of the shadow of the likeness of thine handmaid,
? Yea, the glory of the shadow of thy Beauty hath walked
Upon the shadow of the waters In this thy Venice.
And before the holiness Of the shadow of thy handmaid
Have I hidden mine eyes, O God of waters.
O God of silence,
Purifiez nos cceurs,
Purifiez nos cceurs,
O God of waters,
make clean our hearts within us
And our lips to show forth thy praise, For I have seen the
Shadow of this thy Venice
Floating upon the waters, And thy stars
Have seen this thing- out of their far courses Have they seen this thing,
O God of waters, Even as are thy stars
Silent unto us in their far-coursing, Even so is mine heart
become silent within me.
Purifiez nos cceurs
O God of the silence^
Purifiez nos coeurs
O God of waters.
ii
? Sandalphon
The angel of prayer according- to the Talmud stands unmoved among the angels of wind and fire, who die as their one song is finished, also as he gathers the prayers they turn to flowers in his hands.
AND Because
the of the infinite pain
singing
these about me die,
Slayeth them.
Ye that have sung of the pain of the earth-horde's
age-long crusading,
Ye know somewhat the strain,
the sad-sweet wonder-pain of such singing. And therefore ye know after what fashion
This singing hath power destroying.
Yea, these about me, bearing such song in homage Unto the Mover of Circles,
Die for the might of their praising,
And the autumn of their marcescent wings
Maketh ever new loam for my forest ;
And these grey ash trees hold within them All the secrets of whatso things
They dreamed before their praises,
And in this grove my flowers,
Fruit of prayerful powers,
Have first their thought of life
And then their being. 12
? Ye marvel that I die not ! forsitan \
Thinking me kin with such as may not weep, Thinking- me part of them that die for praising
yea, tho' it be praising,
past the power of man's mortality to dream or name its phases,
yea, tho' it chant and paean past the might of earth-dwelt soul to think on,
yea, tho' it be praising
as these the winged ones die of.
Ye think me one insensate else die I also
Sith these about me die,
And if I, watching
Ever the multiplex jewel, of beryl and jasper
and sapphire Make of these prayers of earth ever new flowers ;
Marvel and wonder !
Marvel and wonder even as I,
Giving to prayer new language And causing the works to speak
Of the earth-horde's age-lasting longing, Even as I marvel and wonder, and know not, Yet keep my watch in the ash wood.
? Sestina: Altaforte
LOQUITUR : En Bertrans de Born.
Dante Alighieri put this man in hell for that he was a stirrer- up of strife.
Eccovi !
Judge ye !
Have I dug him up again?
The scene is at his castle, Altaforte.
The Leopard," the device of Richard (Cceur de Lion).
I
it all! all this our South stinks peace.
DAMYoNu whoreson dog, Papiols, come! Let's to music !
I have no life save when the swords clash.
But ah ! when I see the standards gold, vair, purple,
opposing
And the broad fields beneath them turn crimson,
Then howl I my heart nigh mad with rejoicing.
II
In hot summer have I great rejoicing
When the tempests kill the earth's foul peace,
And the light'nings from black heav'n flash crimson, And the fierce thunders roar me their music
And the winds shriek through the clouds mad, opposing, And through all the riven skies God's swords clash.
HI
Hell grant soon we hear again the swords clash !
And the shrill neighs of destriers in battle rejoicing, Spiked breast to spiked breast opposing!
""
Papiols is his jongleur.
? Better one hour's stour than a year's peace With fat boards, bawds, wine and frail music ! Bah ! there's no wine like the blood's crimson !
IV
And I love to see the sun rise blood-crimson.
And I watch his spears through the dark clash And it fills all my heart with rejoicing
And pries wide my mouth with fast music When I see him so scorn and defy peace,
His lone might 'gainst all darkness opposing.
V
The man who fears war and squats opposing
My words for stour, hath no blood of crimson
But is fit only to rot in womanish peace
Far from where worth's won and the swords clash For the death of such sluts I go rejoicing;
Yea, I fill all the air with my music.
VI
Papiols, Papiols, to the music !
There's no sound like to swords swords opposing, No cry like the battle's rejoicing
When our elbows and swords drip the crimson
And our charges 'gainst "The Leopard's" rush clash. May God damn for ever all who cry " Peace "
!
VII
And let the music of the swords make them crimson !
Hell grant soon we hear again the swords clash !
Hell blot black for alway the thought " Peace " IS
!
? Piere Vidal Old
It is of Piere Vidal, the fool par excellence of all Provence, of whom the tale tells how he ran mad, as a wolf, because of his love for Loba of Penautier, and how men hunted him with dogs through the mountains of Cabaret and brought him for dead to the dwelling of this Loba (she-wolf) of Penautier, and how she and her Lord had him healed and made welcome, and he stayed some time at thatcourt. Hespeaks:
WHEN I but think upon the great dead days d turn mind that
An
Lo ! I do curse my strength
And blame the sun his gladness ; For that the one is dead
And the red sun mocks my sadness.
my upon splendid madness,
Behold me, Vidal, that was fool of fools !
Swift as the king wolf was I and as strong
When tall stags fled me through the alder brakes, And every jongleur knew me in his song,
And the hounds fled and the deer fled
And none fled over long.
Even the grey pack knew me and knew fear. God ! how the swiftest hind's blood spurted hot
Over the sharpened teeth and purpling lips !
Hot was that hind's blood yet it scorched me not As did first scorn, then lips of the Penautier !
Aye ye are fools, if ye think time can blot 16
? From Piere Vidal's remembrance that blue night. God ! but the purple of the sky was deep !
Clear, deep, translucent, so the stars me seemed
Set deep in crystal ; and because my sleep
Rare visitor came not, the Saints I guerdon
Forthatrestlessness Pieresettokeep
One more fool's vigil with the hollyhocks.
Swift came the Loba, as a branch that's caught, Torn, green and silent in the swollen Rhone,
Green was her mantle, close, and wrought
Of some thin silk stuff that's scarce stuff at all,
But like a mist wherethrough her white form fought,
And conquered! Ah God! conquered! Silent my mate came as the night was still.
Speech? Words? Faugh! Who talks of words and love? !
Hot is such love and silent,
Silent as fate is, and as strong until It faints in taking and in giving all.
Stark, keen, triumphant, till it plays at death. God ! she was white then, splendid as some tomb
High wrought of marble, and the panting breath Ceased utterly. Well, then I waited, drew, Half-sheathed, then naked from its saffron sheath Drew full this dagger that doth tremble here.
Just then she woke and mocked the less keen blade. Ah God, the Loba ! and my only mate !
Was there such flesh made ever and unmade !
17
B
? God curse the years that turn such women grey !
Behold here Vidal, that was hunted, flayed, Shamed and yet bowed not and that won at last.
And yet I curse the sun for his red gladness,
I that have known strath, garth, brake, dale,
And every run-way of the wood through that great
madness,
Behold me shrivelled as an old oak's trunk And made men's mock'ry in my rotten sadness !
No man hath heard the glory of my days :
No man hath dared and won his dare as I :
One night, one body and one welding flame ! What do ye own, ye niggards ! that can buy Suchgloryoftheearth? Orwhowillwin
Such battle-guerdon with his "prowesse high"?
O Age gone lax ! O stunted followers,
That mask at passions and desire desires, Behold me shrivelled, and your mock of mocks ; And yet I mock you by the mighty fires
That burnt me to this ash.
Ah ! Cabaret ! Ah Cabaret, thy hills again !
Take your hands off me ! . . . [Sniffing the air. Ha! thisscentishot!
18
? Ballad of the Goodly Fere 1 Simon Zelotes speaketh it somewhile after the Crucifixion.
we lost the goodliest fere o' all HA'For the priests and the gallows tree?
Aye lover he was of brawny men, O' ships and the open sea.
When they came wi' a host to take Our Man His smile was good to see,
"First let these go! " quo' our Goodly Fere, "Or I'll see ye damned," says he.
Aye he sent us out through the crossed high spears And the scorn of his laugh rang free,
"Why took ye not me when I walked about
Alone in the town? " says he.
Oh we drank his "Hale" in the good red wine When we last made company,
No capon priest was the Goodly Fere But a man o' men was he.
I ha' seen him drive a hundred men Wi' a bundle o' cords swung free,
That they took the high and holy house For their pawn and treasury.
1 Fere=Mate,Companion. 19
? They'll no' get him a' in a book I think
Though they write it cunningly ;
No mouse of the scrolls was the Goodly Fere But aye loved the open sea.
If they think they ha' snared our Goodly Fere They are fools to the last degree.
"I'll go to the feast," quo' our Goodly Fere, "Though I go to the gallows tree. "
"Ye ha' seen me heal the lame and blind,
And wake the dead," says he,
"Ye shall see one thing to master all: 'Tis how a brave man dies on the tree. "
A son of God was the Goodly Fere That bade us his brothers be.
I ha' seen him cow a thousand men. I have seen him upon the tree.
He cried no cry when they drave the nails And the blood gushed hot and free,
The hounds of the crimson sky gave tongue But never a cry cried he.
I ha' seen him cow a thousand men
On the hills o' Galilee,
They whined as he walked out calm between, Wi' his eyes like the grey o' the sea.
20
? Like the sea that brooks no voyaging With the winds unleashed and free, Like the sea that he cowed at Genseret
Wi' twey words spoke' suddently.
A master of men was the Goodly Fere,
A mate of the wind and sea,
If they think they ha' slain our Goodly Fere They are fools eternally.
I ha' seen him eat o' the honey-comb Sin' they nailed him to the tree.
V The Publisher desires to state that the "Ballad of the
"
asitappearedinthe EnglishReview.
Goodly Fere
by the ivish of the Author is reproduced exactly ""
21
? Hymn III
From the Latin of Marc Antony Flaminius, sixteenth century.
AS a fragile and lovely flower unfolds its gleaming- foliage on the breast of the fostering earth, if the dew and the rain draw it forth ;
So doth my tender mind flourish, if it be fed with the sweet dew of the fostering spirit,
Lacking this, it beginneth straightway to languish, even as a floweret born upon dry earth, if the dew and the rain tend it not.
22
? Sestina for Ysolt
comes upon me will to speak in praise Of things most fragile in their loveliness ;
Because the sky hath wept all this long day
And wrapped men's hearts within its cloak of grey-
ness,
Because they look not down I sing the stars, Because 'tis still mid-March I praise May's flowers.
Also I praise long hands that lie as flowers
Which though they labour not are worthy praise, And praise deep eyes like pools wherein the stars Gleam out reflected in their loveliness,
For whoso look on such there is no greyness May hang about his heart on any day.
The other things that I would praise to-day ? Besides white hands and all the fragile flowers,
And by their praise dispel the evening's greyness ?
I praise dim hair that worthiest is of praise
And dream upon its unbound loveliness,
And how therethrough mine eyes have seen the stars.
Yea, through that cloud mine eyes have seen the stars That drift out slowly when night steals the day, Through such a cloud meseems their loveliness
23
? Surpasses that of all the other flowers.
For that one night I give all nights my praise
And love therefrom the twilight's coming greyness.
There is a stillness in this twilight greyness
Although the rain hath veiled the flow'ry stars, They seem to listen as I weave this praise
Of what I have not seen all this grey day, And they will tell my praise unto the flowers When May shall bid them in in loveliness.
O ye I love, who hold this loveliness
Near to your hearts, may never any greyness Enshroud your hearts when ye would gather flowers, Or bind your eyes when ye would see the stars ;
But alway do I give ye flowers by day,
And when day's plucked I give ye stars for praise.
But most, thou Flower, whose eyes are like the stars, With whom my dreams bide all the live-long day, Within thy hands would I rest all my praise.
? Portrait
From "La Mre Inconnue. "
NOW would I weave her portrait out of all dim
splendour.
Of Provence and far halls of memory,
Lo, there come echoes, faint diversity
Of blended bells at even's end, or
As the distant seas should send her
The tribute of their trembling, ceaselessly Resonant. Outofalldreamsthatbe,
Say, shall I bid the deepest dreams attend her?
Nay ! For I have seen the purplest shadows stand Alway with reverent chere that looked on her, Silence himself is grown her worshipper
And ever doth attend her in that land
Wherein she reigneth, wherefore let there stir Naught but the softest voices, praising her.
? " Fair Helena "
WHENthe purple twilight is unbound,
Rackham " What I love best in all the world? "
To
and its wistful loveliness, And to know her face
is in the shadow there, Just by two stars beneath that cloud
The soft, dim cloud of her hair, And to think my voice
can reach to her
As but the rumour of some tree-bound stream,
Heard just beyond the forest's edge, Until she all forgets I am,
And knows of me
Naught but my dream's felicity.
watch her tall
slow, grace
26
by
? Laudantes Decem Pulchritudinis
Johannae Templi
i
WHEN your beauty is grown old in all men's
songs,
And my poor words are lost amid that throng,
Then you will know the truth of my poor words,
And mayhap dreaming of the wistful throng
That hopeless sigh your praises in their songs, You will think kindly then of these mad words.
II
I am torn, torn with thy beauty,
O Rose of the sharpest thorn !
O Rose of the crimson beauty,
Why hast thou awakened the sleeper?
Why hast thou awakened the heart within me, O Rose of the crimson thorn?
Ill
The unappeasable loveliness
is calling to me out of the wind,
And because your name
is written upon the ivory doors,
The wave in my heart is as a green wave, unconfined, Tossing the white foam toward you ;
27
? And the lotus that pours
Her fragrance into the purple cup, Is more to be gained with the foam
Than are you with these words of mine.
IV
He speaks to the moonlight concerning the Beloved.
Pale hair that the moon has shaken Down over the dark breast of the sea,
magic her beauty has shaken
About the heart of me ;
Out of you have I woven a dream That shall walk in the lonely vale Betwixt the high hill and the low hill, Until the pale stream
Of the souls of men quench and grow still.
V
Voices speaking to the sun.
Red leaf that art blown upward and out and over The green sheaf of the world,
And through the dim forest and under
The shadowed arches and the aisles,
We, who are older than thou art,
Met and remembered when his eyes beheld her In the garden of the peach-trees,
In the day of the blossoming.
VI 1 stood on the hill of Yrma
when the winds were a-hurrying, 28
? With the grasses a-bending I followed them,
Through the brown grasses of Ahva unto the green of Asedon.
I have rested with the voices
in the gardens of Ahthor, I have lain beneath the peach-trees
in the hour of the purple :
Because I had awaited in
the garden of the peach-trees, Because I had feared not
in the forest of my mind, Mine eyes beheld the vision of the blossom
There in the peach-gardens past Asedon.
O winds of Yrma, let her again come unto me, Whose hair ye held unbound in the gardens of Ahthor !
VII
Because of the beautiful white shoulders and the
rounded breasts
I caninnowiseforgetmybelovedofthepeach-trees, And the little winds that speak when the dawn is
unfurled
And the rose-colour in the grey oak-leafs fold
When it first conies, and the glamour that rests On the little streams in the evening ; all of these
29
? Call me to her, and all the loveliness in the world Binds me to my beloved with strong chains of gold.
VIII
If the rose-petals which have fallen upon my eyes And if the perfect faces which I see at times
When my eyes are closed
Faces fragile, pale, yet flushed a little, like petals of
roses :
If these things have confused my memories of her So that I could not draw her face
Even if I had skill and the colours,
Yet because her face is so like these things
They but draw me nearer unto her in my thought And thoughts of her come upon my mind gently, As dew upon the petals of roses.
IX
He speaks to the rain.
O pearls that hang on your little silver chains,
The innumerable voices that are whispering Among you as you are drawn aside by the wind, Have brought to my mind the soft and eager speech Of one who hath great loveliness,
Which is subtle as the beauty of the rains That hang low in the moonshine and bring
The May softly among us, and unbind
The streams and the crimson and white flowers and
reach
Deep down into the secret places.
30
? X
The glamour of the soul hath come upon me,
And as the twilight comes upon the roses,
Walking silently among them, So have the thoughts of my heart
Gone out slowly in the twilight Toward my beloved,
Toward the crimson rose, the fairest.
? Aux Belles de Londres
AM aweary with the utter and beautiful weariness I And with the ultimate wisdom and with things
terrene,
I am aweary with your smiles and your laughter, And the sun and the winds again
Reclaim their booty and the heart o' me.
? Francesca
came in out of the night
YOAUnd there were flowers in your hands, Now you will come out of a confusion of people, Out of a turmoil of speech about you.
I who have seen you amid the primal things Was angry when they spoke your name
In ordinary places.
I would that the cool waves might flow over my
mind,
And that the world should dry as a dead leaf, Or as a dandelion seed-pod and be swept away,
So that I might find you again, Alone.
33
? Greek Epigram
and night are never weary, DAYNor yet is God of creating
For day and night their torch-bearers The aube and the crepuscule.
So, when I weary of praising the dawn and the sun
set,
Let me be no more counted among the immortals ; But number me amid the wearying ones, Letmebeamanastheherd,
And as the slave that is given in barter.
34
? Christophori Columbi Tumulus From the Latin of Hipolytus Capilupus, Early Cent. XVI.
glory of Italy, Columbus thou sure
GENOAN, light,
Alas the urn takes even thee so soon out-blown. Its little space
Doth hold thee, whom Oceanus had not the might Within his folds to hold, altho' his broad embrace Doth hold all lands.
Bark-borne beyond his bound'ries unto Hind thou wast Where scarce Fame's volant self the way had cast.
? Plotinus
one that would draw through the node of things, AS Back sweeping to the vortex of the cone,
Cloistered about with memories, alone In chaos, while the waiting silence sings :
Obliviate of cycles' wanderings
I was an atom on creation's throne
And knew all nothing my unconquered own. God! Should I be the hand upon the strings? !
But I was lonely as a lonely child.
I cried amid the void and heard no cry, And then for utter loneliness, made I
New thoughts as crescent images of me.
