第 6 节
作者:散发弄舟      更新:2024-01-16 22:40      字数:9322
  You came to me bearing bright roses;            Red like the wine of your heart;
  You   twisted   them   into   a   garland    To   set   me   aside   from   the   mart。   Red
  roses to crown me your lover;          And I walked aureoled and apart。
  Enslaved and encircled; I bore it;         Proud token of my gift to you。 The
  petals waned paler; and shriveled;            And dropped; and the thorns started
  through。 Bitter thorns to proclaim me your lover;               A diadem woven with
  rue。
  To Elizabeth Ward Perkins
  Dear Bessie;   would   my  tired   rhyme        Had   force to   rise from  apathy;
  And shaking off its lethargy Ring word…tones like a Christmas chime。
  But in my soul's high belfry; chill        The bitter wind of doubt has blown;
  The summer swallows all have flown; The bells are frost…bound; mute and
  still。
  Upon the crumbling boards the snow               Has drifted deep; the clappers
  hang     Prismed with icicles; their clang Unheard since ages long ago。
  The rope I pull is stiff and cold;         My straining ears detect no sound
  Except a sigh; as round and round The wind rocks through the timbers old。
  Below; I know the church is bright             With haloed tapers; warm  with
  prayer;     But here I only feel the air Of icy centuries of night。
  Beneath my feet the snow is lit           And gemmed with colours; red; and
  blue;    Topaz; and green; where light falls through The saints that in the
  windows sit。
  Here darkness seems a spectred thing;             Voiceless and haunting; while
  the   stars   Mock   with   a   light   of   long   dead   years   The   ache   of   present
  suffering。
  Silent   and   winter…killed   I   stand;   No   carol   hymns   my   debt   to   you;
  But take this frozen thought in lieu; And thaw its music in your hand。
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  A Dome of Many…Coloured Glass
  The Promise of the Morning Star
  Thou father of the children of my brain             By thee engendered in my
  willing   heart;   How   can   I   thank   thee   for   this   gift   of   art   Poured   out   so
  lavishly; and not in vain。
  What thou created never more can die;              Thy fructifying power lives
  in me     And I conceive;  knowing it is by thee;  Dear other parent of   my
  poetry!
  For   I   was   but   a   shadow   with   a   name; Perhaps   by   now   the   very
  name's forgot;      So strange is Fate that it has been my lot To learn through
  thee the presence of that aim
  Which evermore must guide me。              All unknown;        By me unguessed;
  by thee not even dreamed;          A tree has blossomed in a night that seemed
  Of stubborn; barren wood。          For thou hast sown
  This seed of beauty in a ground of truth。           Humbly I dedicate myself;
  and yet     I tremble with a sudden fear to set New music ringing through
  my fading youth。
  JK。 Huysmans
  A flickering glimmer through a window…pane; A dim red glare through
  mud   bespattered   glass;   Cleaving   a   path     between   blown   walls   of   sleet
  Across uneven pavements sunk in slime To scatter and then quench itself
  in mist。 And struggling;  slipping; often   rudely hurled Against the  jutting
  angle    of  a  wall;   And   cursed;   and   reeled   against;   and   flung   aside  By
  drunken      brawlers   as   they  shuffled    past;  A   man   was   groping    to  what
  seemed a light。 His eyelids burnt and quivered with the strain Of looking;
  and   against   his   temples   beat   The   all   enshrouding;   suffocating   dark。   He
  stumbled; lurched; and struck against a door That opened; and a howl of
  obscene   mirth   Grated   his   senses;   wallowing   on   the   floor   Lay   men;   and
  dogs and women in the dirt。 He sickened; loathing it; and as he gazed The
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  A Dome of Many…Coloured Glass
  candle guttered; flared; and then went out。
  Through travail of ignoble midnight streets He came at last to shelter
  in a porch Where gothic saints and warriors made a shield To cover him;
  and tortured gargoyles spat One long continuous stream of silver rain That
  clattered   down   from   myriad   roofs   and   spires   Into   a   darkness;   loud   with
  rushing sound Of water falling; gurgling as it fell; But always thickly dark。
  Then as he leaned Unconscious where; the great oak door blew back And
  cast    him;   bruised     and   dripping;    in   the  church。     His   eyes   from    long
  sojourning   in   the   night   Were   blinded   now   as   by   some   glorious   sun;   He
  slowly crawled toward the altar steps。 He could not think; for heavy in his
  ears An   organ   boomed   majestic   harmonies;   He   only   knew   that   what   he
  saw   was   light!   He   bowed   himself   before   a   cross   of   flame And   shut   his
  eyes in fear lest it should fade。
  March Evening
  Blue   through   the   window   burns   the   twilight;      Heavy;   through   trees;
  blows the warm south wind。 Glistening; against the chill; gray sky light;
  Wet; black branches are barred and entwined。
  Sodden   and   spongy;   the   scarce…green   grass   plot         Dents   into    pools
  where a foot has been。 Puddles lie spilt in the road a mass; not                  Of water;
  but steel; with its cold; hard sheen。
  Faint   fades   the   fire   on   the   hearth;   its   embers Scattering   wide   at   a
  stronger      gust。   Above;     the   old   weathercock       groans;     but   remembers
  Creaking; to turn; in its centuried rust。
  Dying;     forlorn;   in  dreary    sorrow;     Wrapping       the   mists   round    her
  withering form; Day sinks down; and in darkness to…morrow                       Travails to
  birth in the womb of the storm。
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  A Dome of Many…Coloured Glass
  Sonnets
  Leisure
  Leisure; thou goddess of a bygone age;             When hours were long and
  days sufficed to hold       Wide…eyed delights and pleasures uncontrolled By
  shortening   moments;   when   no   gaunt   presage   Of   undone   duties;   modern
  heritage;    Haunted our happy minds; must thou withhold               Thy presence
  from this over…busy world; And bearing silence with thee disengage                Our
  twined    fortunes?    Deeps     of  unhewn     woods    Alone     can  cherish   thee;
  alone   possess Thy  quiet;   teeming   vigor。     This   our   crime:   Not   to   have
  worshipped; marred by alien moods            That sole condition of all loveliness;
  The dreaming lapse of slow; unmeasured time。
  On Carpaccio's Picture:                   The Dream of St。 Ursula
  Swept;     clean;  and    still;  across  the  polished    floor    From     some
  unshuttered     casement;    hid  from    sight;  The    level  sunshine    slants;  its
  greater   light  Quenching   the     little   lamp  which   pallid;  poor;  Flickering;
  unreplenished;  at   the   door   Has striven   against   darkness   the  long   night。
  Dawn fills the room; and penetrating; bright; The silent sunbeams through
  the window pour。       And she lies sleeping; ignorant of Fate;         Enmeshed in
  listless dreams; her soul not yet Ripened to bear the purport of this day。
  The morning breeze scarce stirs the coverlet;           A shadow falls across the
  sunlight; wait! A lark is singing as he flies away。
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  A Dome of Many…Coloured Glass
  The Matrix
  Goaded and harassed in the factory          That tears our life up into bits of
  days     Ticked off upon a clock which never stays; Shredding our portion
  of Eternity; We break away at last; and steal the key          Which hides a world
  empty of hours; ways         Of space unroll; and Heaven overlays The leafy;
  sun…lit   earth   of   Fantasy。    Beyond      the   ilex  shadow     glares   the  sun;
  Scorching against the blue flame of the sky。 Brown lily…pads lie heavy and
  supine     Within a granite basin; under one         The bronze…gold glimmer of a
  carp; and I Reach out my hand and pluck a nectarine。
  Monadnock in Early Spring
  Cloud…topped      and   splendid;   dominating     all  The     little  lesser  hills
  which   compass   thee;      Thou   standest;   bright   with April's   buoyan