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