No More Learning

? STRA
EZRA
? CAS* 8
? LUSTRA OF EZRA POUND
? EZRA POUND.
? LUSTRA OF
EZRA POUND
" Definition LUSTRUM
an offering for the sins of the whole made by the censors at the expiration of their
:
Elementary Latin Dictionary of Charlton T. Lewis.
Eevoeple, of office. " years
200 copies privately printed\ of which this is No, . . I / /
? CERTAIN of these poems have appeared in Poetry, Blast, Poetry and Drama, Smart Set, and Others^ to the editors of which magazines the author
wishes to make due acknowledgment.
E. P.
? V. L.
Cm ofowo lepidum novum libellum.
L CAS6 .
? Tenzone
The Condolence . . . . The Garret
The Garden
Ortus
Salutation
Salutation the Second . The Spring
Albatre
Causa
Commission
A Pact
PAGE PAGE 9 The Bath Tub . . . . 38 10 Amities 39 11 Meditatio 41 12 To Dives 41 13 Ladies 42 14 Phyllidula 44
15 The Patterns 17 Coda
18 The Seeing Eye . . . . 18 Ancora
19 " Dompna pois de me no'us 21 cal"
22 The Coming of War : 23 Actaeon
v Surgit Fama ^Preference
Dance Figure
April
Gentildonna
The Best
Les Millwin Further Instructions
A Song of the Degrees . Ite
Dum Capitolium Scandet .
. . . . . .
To KaXov
The Study in Aesthetics .
The Bellaires
The New Cake of Soap. .
Tempora
Salvationists
Epitaph Arides.
. . . .
37
. . . .
37
CONTENTS
.
. . . .
26 LiuCh'e
.
.
.
. . .
26 Fan-piece, for her Imperial 27 Lord
28 Ts'aiChi'h
29 In a Station of the Metro . 30 Alba
31 Heather
31 The Faun
31 Coitus
32 The Encounter . . . . 33
24 After Ch'u Yuan
35 Black Slippers : 36
Bellotti .
? " lone, Dead the Long Year"
ip-tppv
Shop Girl
To Formianus' Young Lady
PAOE
57 Lament of the Frontier
58 Guard 86 58 Exile's Letter . . . .
Four Poems of Departure 59 Separation on the Biver
60 Kiang 93 60 Taking Leave of a
61 Friend . . . . 93 61 Leave - taking near
62 Shoku 94
Friend Tame Cat
I/Art, 1910
Simulacra
Women before a Shop . Epilogue
The Social Order
The Tea Shop Epitaphs
Our Contemporaries Ancient Wisdom, Bather
Cosmic 66
. . .
The Gipsy 67
Sennin Poem by Kakuhaku 97 A Ballad of the Mulberry
Boad 98 Old Idea of Choan by
Bosoriu 99 To-Em-Mei's "The Un-
movingCloud" . . . 101
The Three Poets
66
The Game of Chess . . . ProvinciaDeserta . . .
CATHAY
Song of the Bowmen of
68 69
. . . . . . .
63 The City of Choan.
64 South Folk in Cold
95
Shu 75 The Beautiful Toilet. . TheBiverSong . . . The Biver Merchant's
112
To a Friend Writing on Cabaret Dancers . . . 117
Homage to Quintus Septi-
Wife: ALetter . . 81 The Jewel Stairs'
Grievance . . . . Poem by the Bridge at
83
mius Florentis
tianus
Fish and the Shadow
Chris -
121 , 123
Ten-Shin 84
. .
66
.
CONTENTS
65 Country 96
. . . . Villanelle : The Psychologi-
103
NearPerigord
cal Hour
77 Dans un Omnibus de
78 Londres 115
.
88
? LUSTRA OF EZRA POUND
Tenzone
WILL people accept them ? (i. e. these songs).
As a timorous wench from a centaur (or a centurion),
Already they flee, howling in terror.
Will they be touched with the verisimilitudes ?
Their virgin stupidity is untemptable,
I beg you, my friendly critics,
Do not set about to procure me an audience.
I mate with my free kind upon the crags ; the hidden recesses
Have heard the echo of my heels, in the cool light,
in the darkness.
9
? The Condolence
A mis soledades voy>
De mis soledades vengo, Porque por andar conmigo Mi bastan mis pensamientos.
Lope de Vega. O MY fellow sufferers, songs of my youth,
A lot of asses because praise you
are " !
you We are " Red Bloods "
virile,"
We, you, I !
Imagine it, my fellow sufferers
Our maleness lifts us out of the ruck,
Who'd have foreseen it ?
O my fellow sufferers, we went out under the
trees,
We were in especial bored with male stupidity.
We went forth gathering delicate thoughts,
Our " " to serve us. fantastikon delighted
We were not exasperated with women, for the female is ductile.
And now you hear what is said to us : We are compared to that sort of person Who wanders about announcing his sex As if he had just discovered it.
Let us leave this matter, my songs,
and return to that which concerns us.
10
? The Garret
COME let us pity those who are better off than we are.
Come, my friend, and remember
that the rich have butlers and no friends,
And we have friends and no butlers.
Come let us pity the married and the unmarried.
Dawn enters with little feet
like a gilded Pavlova, And T am near my desire.
Nor has life in it aught better Than this hour of clear coolness,
the hour of waking together.
11
? The Garden
En robe de parade. Sainain.
LIKE a skein of loose silk blown against a wall
She walks by the railing of a path in Kensington Gardens,
And she is dying piece-meal
of a sort of emotional anaemia.
And round about there is a rabble
Of the filthy, sturdy, unkillable infants of the
very poor.
They shall inherit the earth.
In her is the end of breeding.
Her boredom is exquisite and excessive. She would like someone to speak to her, And is almost afraid that I
will commit that indiscretion.
12
? Ortus
How have I laboured ? How have I not laboured
To bring her soul to birth,
To give these elements a name and a centre !
She is beautiful as the sunlight, and as fluid.
She has no name, and no place.
How have I laboured to bring her soul into
separation ;
To give her a name and her being !
Surely you are bound and entwined,
You are mingled with the elements unborn ; I have loved a stream and a shadow.
I beseech you enter your life.
I beseech
you
learn to " I " say
When I question you :
For you are no part, but a whole ;
No portion, but a being.
13
? Salutation
GENERATION of the thoroughly smug
and thoroughly uncomfortable, 1 have seen fishermen picnicking in the sun,
I have seen them with untidy families, I have seen their smiles full of teeth
and heard ungainly laughter.
And I am happier than you are, And they were happier than I am ; And the fish swim in the lake
and do not even own clothing.
14
? Salutation the Second
You were praised, my books,
because I had just come from the country ;
I was twenty years behind the times so you found an audience ready.
I do not disown you,
do not you disown your progeny.
Here they stand without quaint devices,
Here they are with nothing archaic about them.
Watch the reporters spit,
Watch the anger of the professors, Watch how the pretty ladies revile them :
" Is
" the nonsense
this," they say,
that we expect of poets ?
"
"" Where is the vertigo of emotion ?
" No ! his first work was the best. "
" Poor Dear ! he has lost his illusions. "
15
"" Where is the Picturesque ?
? SALUTATION THE SECOND
Go, little naked and impudent songs, Go with a light foot !
(Or with two light feet, if it please you ! )
Go and dance shamelessly !
Go with an impertinent frolic !
Greet the grave and the stodgy,
Salute them with your thumbs at your noses.
Here are your bells and confetti.
Go ! rejuvenate things !
Rejuvenate even " The Spectator. " Go ! and make cat calls !
Dance and make people blush, Dance the dance of the phallus
and tell anecdotes of Cybele !
Speak of the indecorous conduct of the Gods !
(Tell it to Mr. Strachey. )
Ruffle the skirts of prudes,
speak of their knees and ankles.
But, above all, go to practical people go ! jangle their door-bells !
CERTAIN of these poems have appeared in Poetry, Blast, Poetry and Drama, Smart Set, and Others^ to the editors of which magazines the author
wishes to make due acknowledgment.
E. P.
? V. L.
Cm ofowo lepidum novum libellum.
L CAS6 .
? Tenzone
The Condolence . . . . The Garret
The Garden
Ortus
Salutation
Salutation the Second . The Spring
Albatre
Causa
Commission
A Pact
PAGE PAGE 9 The Bath Tub . . . . 38 10 Amities 39 11 Meditatio 41 12 To Dives 41 13 Ladies 42 14 Phyllidula 44
15 The Patterns 17 Coda
18 The Seeing Eye . . . . 18 Ancora
19 " Dompna pois de me no'us 21 cal"
22 The Coming of War : 23 Actaeon
v Surgit Fama ^Preference
Dance Figure
April
Gentildonna
The Best
Les Millwin Further Instructions
A Song of the Degrees . Ite
Dum Capitolium Scandet .
. . . . . .
To KaXov
The Study in Aesthetics .
The Bellaires
The New Cake of Soap. .
Tempora
Salvationists
Epitaph Arides.
. . . .
37
. . . .
37
CONTENTS
.
. . . .
26 LiuCh'e
.
.
.
. . .
26 Fan-piece, for her Imperial 27 Lord
28 Ts'aiChi'h
29 In a Station of the Metro . 30 Alba
31 Heather
31 The Faun
31 Coitus
32 The Encounter . . . . 33
24 After Ch'u Yuan
35 Black Slippers : 36
Bellotti .
? " lone, Dead the Long Year"
ip-tppv
Shop Girl
To Formianus' Young Lady
PAOE
57 Lament of the Frontier
58 Guard 86 58 Exile's Letter . . . .
Four Poems of Departure 59 Separation on the Biver
60 Kiang 93 60 Taking Leave of a
61 Friend . . . . 93 61 Leave - taking near
62 Shoku 94
Friend Tame Cat
I/Art, 1910
Simulacra
Women before a Shop . Epilogue
The Social Order
The Tea Shop Epitaphs
Our Contemporaries Ancient Wisdom, Bather
Cosmic 66
. . .
The Gipsy 67
Sennin Poem by Kakuhaku 97 A Ballad of the Mulberry
Boad 98 Old Idea of Choan by
Bosoriu 99 To-Em-Mei's "The Un-
movingCloud" . . . 101
The Three Poets
66
The Game of Chess . . . ProvinciaDeserta . . .
CATHAY
Song of the Bowmen of
68 69
. . . . . . .
63 The City of Choan.
64 South Folk in Cold
95
Shu 75 The Beautiful Toilet. . TheBiverSong . . . The Biver Merchant's
112
To a Friend Writing on Cabaret Dancers . . . 117
Homage to Quintus Septi-
Wife: ALetter . . 81 The Jewel Stairs'
Grievance . . . . Poem by the Bridge at
83
mius Florentis
tianus
Fish and the Shadow
Chris -
121 , 123
Ten-Shin 84
. .
66
.
CONTENTS
65 Country 96
. . . . Villanelle : The Psychologi-
103
NearPerigord
cal Hour
77 Dans un Omnibus de
78 Londres 115
.
88
? LUSTRA OF EZRA POUND
Tenzone
WILL people accept them ? (i. e. these songs).
As a timorous wench from a centaur (or a centurion),
Already they flee, howling in terror.
Will they be touched with the verisimilitudes ?
Their virgin stupidity is untemptable,
I beg you, my friendly critics,
Do not set about to procure me an audience.
I mate with my free kind upon the crags ; the hidden recesses
Have heard the echo of my heels, in the cool light,
in the darkness.
9
? The Condolence
A mis soledades voy>
De mis soledades vengo, Porque por andar conmigo Mi bastan mis pensamientos.
Lope de Vega. O MY fellow sufferers, songs of my youth,
A lot of asses because praise you
are " !
you We are " Red Bloods "
virile,"
We, you, I !
Imagine it, my fellow sufferers
Our maleness lifts us out of the ruck,
Who'd have foreseen it ?
O my fellow sufferers, we went out under the
trees,
We were in especial bored with male stupidity.
We went forth gathering delicate thoughts,
Our " " to serve us. fantastikon delighted
We were not exasperated with women, for the female is ductile.
And now you hear what is said to us : We are compared to that sort of person Who wanders about announcing his sex As if he had just discovered it.
Let us leave this matter, my songs,
and return to that which concerns us.
10
? The Garret
COME let us pity those who are better off than we are.
Come, my friend, and remember
that the rich have butlers and no friends,
And we have friends and no butlers.
Come let us pity the married and the unmarried.
Dawn enters with little feet
like a gilded Pavlova, And T am near my desire.
Nor has life in it aught better Than this hour of clear coolness,
the hour of waking together.
11
? The Garden
En robe de parade. Sainain.
LIKE a skein of loose silk blown against a wall
She walks by the railing of a path in Kensington Gardens,
And she is dying piece-meal
of a sort of emotional anaemia.
And round about there is a rabble
Of the filthy, sturdy, unkillable infants of the
very poor.
They shall inherit the earth.
In her is the end of breeding.
Her boredom is exquisite and excessive. She would like someone to speak to her, And is almost afraid that I
will commit that indiscretion.
12
? Ortus
How have I laboured ? How have I not laboured
To bring her soul to birth,
To give these elements a name and a centre !
She is beautiful as the sunlight, and as fluid.
She has no name, and no place.
How have I laboured to bring her soul into
separation ;
To give her a name and her being !
Surely you are bound and entwined,
You are mingled with the elements unborn ; I have loved a stream and a shadow.
I beseech you enter your life.
I beseech
you
learn to " I " say
When I question you :
For you are no part, but a whole ;
No portion, but a being.
13
? Salutation
GENERATION of the thoroughly smug
and thoroughly uncomfortable, 1 have seen fishermen picnicking in the sun,
I have seen them with untidy families, I have seen their smiles full of teeth
and heard ungainly laughter.
And I am happier than you are, And they were happier than I am ; And the fish swim in the lake
and do not even own clothing.
14
? Salutation the Second
You were praised, my books,
because I had just come from the country ;
I was twenty years behind the times so you found an audience ready.
I do not disown you,
do not you disown your progeny.
Here they stand without quaint devices,
Here they are with nothing archaic about them.
Watch the reporters spit,
Watch the anger of the professors, Watch how the pretty ladies revile them :
" Is
" the nonsense
this," they say,
that we expect of poets ?
"
"" Where is the vertigo of emotion ?
" No ! his first work was the best. "
" Poor Dear ! he has lost his illusions. "
15
"" Where is the Picturesque ?
? SALUTATION THE SECOND
Go, little naked and impudent songs, Go with a light foot !
(Or with two light feet, if it please you ! )
Go and dance shamelessly !
Go with an impertinent frolic !
Greet the grave and the stodgy,
Salute them with your thumbs at your noses.
Here are your bells and confetti.
Go ! rejuvenate things !
Rejuvenate even " The Spectator. " Go ! and make cat calls !
Dance and make people blush, Dance the dance of the phallus
and tell anecdotes of Cybele !
Speak of the indecorous conduct of the Gods !
(Tell it to Mr. Strachey. )
Ruffle the skirts of prudes,
speak of their knees and ankles.
But, above all, go to practical people go ! jangle their door-bells !
Say that you do no work
and that you will live forever.
16
? The Spring
CYDONIAN spring with her attendant train,
Maelids and water-girls,
Stepping beneath a boisterous wind from Thrace,
Throughout this sylvan place
Spreads the bright tips, And every vine-stock is
Clad in new brilliancies.
Falls like black lightning.
O bewildered heart,
Though every branch have back what last year
lost,
She, who moved here amid the cyclamen,
Moves only now a clinging tenuous ghost.
17
And wild desire
? Albatre
THIS lady in the white bath-robe which she calls
a peignoir
Is, for the time being, the mistress of my friend,
And the delicate white feet of her little white
dog
Are not more delicate than she is,
Nor would Gautier himself have despised their contrasts in whiteness
As she sits in the great chair Between the two indolent candles.
Causa
I JOIN these words for four people, Some others may overhear them,
O world, I am sorry for you,
You do not know these four people.
18
? Commission
Go, my songs, to the lonely and the unsatisfied, Go also to the nerve-wracked, go to the enslaved-
by-convention,
Bear to them my contempt for their oppressors. Go as a great wave of cool water,
Bear my contempt of oppressors.
Speak against unconscious oppression,
Speak against the tyranny of the unimaginative, Speak against bonds.
Go to the bourgeoise who is dying of her ennuis, Go to the women in suburbs.