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forty-two poems-第5部分
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On such a night as this it were a sin
To leave the blind alone。
THE REVELLERS
Greatly we fear lest he; still resolute;
Have wandered to the fields for poisoned fruit。
THE BEGGAR
See here upon this stone 。 。 。
He is all frozen 。 。 。 take him to a bed
And warm his hands。
THE REVELLERS
O sorrow; he is dead!
GRAVIS DULCIS IMMUTABILIS
Come; let me kiss your wistful face
Where Sorrow curves her bow of pain;
And live sweet days and bitter days
With you; or wanting you again。
I dread your perishable gold:
Come near me now; the years are few。
Alas; when you and I are old
I shall not want to look at you:
And yet come in。 I shall not dare
To gaze upon your countenance;
But I shall huddle in my chair;
Turn to the fire my fireless glance;
And listen; while that slow and grave
Immutable sweet voice of yours
Rises and falls; as falls a wave
In summer on forgotten shores。
PILLAGE
They will trample our gardens to mire; they will bury our city in fire;
Our women await their desire; our children the clang of the chain。
Our grave…eyed judges and lords they will bind by the neck with cords;
And harry with whips and swords till they perish of shame or pain;
And the great lapis lazuli dome where the gods of our race had a home
Will break like a wave from the foam; and shred into fiery rain。
No more on the long summer days shall we walk in the meadow…sweet ways
With the teachers of music and phrase; and the masters of dance and
design。
No more when the trumpeter calls shall we feast in the white…light halls;
For stayed are the soft footfalls of the moon…browed bearers of wine;
And lost are the statues of Kings and of Gods with great glorious wings;
And an empire of beautiful things; and the lips of the love who was mine。
We have vanished; but not into night; though our manhood we sold to
delight;
Neglecting the chances of fight; unfit for the spear and the bow。
We are dead; but our living was great: we are dumb; but a song of our
State
Will roam in the desert and wait; with its burden of long; long ago;
Till a scholar from sea…bright lands unearth from the years and the sands
Some image with beautiful hands; and know what we want him to know。
THE BALLAD OF ZACHO
(a Greek Legend。)
Zacho the King rode out of old
(And truth is what I tell)
With saddle and spurs and a rein of gold
To find the door of Hell。
And round around him surged the dead
With soft and lustrous eyes。
〃Why came you here; old friend?〃 they said:
〃Unwise 。 。 。 unwise 。 。 。 unwise!
〃You should have left to the prince your son
Spurs and saddle and rein:
Your bright and morning days are done;
You ride not out again。〃
〃I came to greet my friends who fell
Sword…scattered from my side;
And when I've drunk the wine of Hell
I'll out again and ride!〃
But Charon rose and caught his hair
In fingers sharp and long。
〃Loose me; old ferryman: play fair:
Try if my arm be strong。〃
Thrice drave he hard on Charon's breast;
And struck him thrice to ground;
Till stranger ghosts came out o' the west
And sat like stars around。
And thrice old Charon rose up high
And seized him as before。
〃Loose me! a broken man am I;
And fight with you no more。''
〃Zacho; arise; my home is near;
I pray you walk with me:
I've hung my tent so full of fear
You well may shake to see。
〃Home to my home come they who fight;
Who fight but not to win:
Without; my tent is black as night;
And red as fire within。
〃Though winds blow cold and I grow old;
My tent is fast and fair:
The pegs are dead men's stout right arms;
The cords; their golden hair。〃
PAVLOVNA IN LONDON
I listened to the hunger…hearted clown;
Sadder than he: I heard a woman sing; …
A tall dark woman in a scarlet gown …
And saw those golden toys the jugglers fling。
I found a tawdry room and there sat I;
There angled for each murmur soft and strange;
The pavement…cries from darkness and below:
I watched the drinkers laugh; the lovers sigh;
And thought how little all the world would change
If clowns were audience; and we the Show。
What starry music are they playing now?
What dancing in this dreary theatre?
Who is she with the moon upon her brow;
And who the fire…foot god that follows her? …
Follows among those unbelieved…in trees
Back…shadowing in their parody of light
Across the little cardboard balustrade;
And we; like that poor Faun who pipes and flees;
Adore their beauty; hate it for too bright;
And tremble; half in rapture; half afraid。
Play on; O furtive and heartbroken Faun!
What is your thin dull pipe for such as they?
I know you blinded by the least white dawn;
And dare you face their quick and quivering Day?
Dare you; like us; weak but undaunted men;
Reliant on some deathless spark in you
Turn your dull eyes to what the gods desire;
Touch the light finger of your goddess; then
After a second's flash of gold and blue;
Drunken with that divinity; expire?
O dance; Diana; dance; Endymion;
Till calm ancestral shadows lay their hands
Gently across mine eyes: in days long gone
Have I not danced with gods in garden lands?
I too a wild unsighted atom borne
Deep in the heart of some heroic boy
Span in the dance ten thousand years ago;
And while his young eyes glittered in the morn
Something of me felt something of his joy;
And longed to rule a body; and to know。
Singer long dead and sweeter…lipped than I;
In whose proud line the soul…dark phrases burn;
Would you could praise their passionate symmetry;
Who loved the colder shapes; the Attic urn。
But your far song; my faint one; what are they;
And what their dance and faery thoughts and ours;
Or night abloom with splendid stars and pale?
'Tis an old story that sweet flowers decay;
And dreams; the noblest; die as soon as flowers;
And dancers; all the world of them; must fail。
THE SENTIMENTALIST
There lies a photograph of you
Deep in a box of broken things。
This was the face I loved and knew
Five years ago; when life had wings;
Five years ago; when through a town
Of bright and soft and shadowy bowers
We walked and talked and trailed our gown
Regardless of the cinctured hours。
The precepts that we held I kept;
Proudly my ways with you I went:
We lived our dreams while others slept;
And did not shrink from sentiment。
Now I go East and you stay West
And when between us Europe lies
I shall forget what I loved best
Away from lips and hands and eyes。
But we were Gods then: we were they
Who laughed at fools; believed in friends;
And drank to all that golden day
Before us; which this poem ends。
DON JUAN IN HELL
(from Baudelaire。)
The night Don Juan came to pay his fees
To Charon; by the caverned water's shore;
A beggar; proud…eyed as Antisthenes;
Stretched out his knotted fingers on the oar。
Mournful; with drooping breasts and robes unsewn
The shapes of women swayed in ebon skies;
Trailing behind him with a restless moan
Like cattle herded for a sacrifice。
Here; grinning for his wage; stood Sganarelle;
And here Don Luis pointed; bent and dim;
To show the dead who lined the holes of Hell;
This was that impious son who mocked at him。
The hollow…eyed; the chaste Elvira came;
Trembling and veiled; to view her traitor spouse。
Was it one last bright smile she thought to claim;
Such as made sweet the morning of his vows?
A great stone man rose like a tower on board;
Stood at the helm and cleft the flood profound:
But the calm hero; leaning on his sword;
Gazed back; and would not offer one look round。
THE BALLAD OF ISKANDER
Aflatun and Aristu and King Iskander
Are Plato; Aristotle; Alexander。
Sultan Iskander sat him down
On his golden throne; in his golden crown;
And shouted; 〃Wine and flute…girls three;
And the Captain; ho! of my ships at sea。〃
He drank his bowl of wine; he kept
The flute…girls dancing till they wept;
Praised and kissed their painted lips;
And turned to the Captain of All his Ships
And cried; 〃O Lord of my Ships that go
From the Persian Gulf to the Pits of Snow;
Inquire for men unknown to man!〃
Said Sultan Iskander of Yoonistan。
〃Daroosh is dead; and I am King
Of Everywhere and Everything:
Yet leagues and leagues away for sure
The lion…hearted dream of war。
〃Admiral; I command you sail!
Take you a ship of silver mail;
And fifty sailors; young and bold;
And stack provision deep in the hold;
〃And seek out twenty men that know
All babel tongues which flaunt and flow;
And stay! Impress those learned two;
Old Aflatun; and Aristu。
〃And set your prow South…western ways
A thousand bright and dimpling days;
And find me lion…hearted Lords
With breasts to feed Our rusting swords。〃
The Captain of the Ships bowed low。
〃Sir;〃 he replied; 〃I will do so。〃
And down he rode to the harbour mouth;
To choose a boat to carry him South。
And he launched a ship of silver mail;
With fifty lads to hoist the sail;
And twenty wiseall tongues they knew;
And Aflatun; and Aristu。
There had not dawned the second day
But the glittering galleon sailed away;
And through the night like one great bell
The marshalled armies sang farewell。
In twenty days the silver ship
Had passed the Isle of Serendip;
And made the flat Araunian coasts
Inhabited; at noon; by Ghosts。
In thirty days the ship was far
Beyond the land of Calcobar;
Where men drink Dead Men's Blood for wine;
And dye their beards alizarine。
But on the hundredth day there came
Storm with his windy wings aflame;
And drave them out to that Lone Sea
Whose shores are near Eternity。
* * *
For seven years and seven years
Sailed those forgotten mariners;
Nor could they spy on either hand
The faintest level of good red land。
Bird or fish they saw not one;
There swam no ship beside their own;
And day…night long the lilied Deep
Lay round them; with its flowers asleep。
The beams began to warp and crack;
The silver plates turned filthy black;
And drooping down on the c
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