第 4 节
作者:想聊      更新:2021-02-24 22:39      字数:9322
  turned from Immortality         To fawn upon Success!
  O blind with love of self; who led          Youth's vision to defeat; Bawling
  and brawling for rewards;         Loud; in the common street!
  O  you   who were  so   quick to   judge      Leader;  and loved;  of   yore
  Hear now the judgment of our youth:            Leader and Chief no more!
  THE BAYONET
  (1914)
  12
  … Page 13…
  DREAMS & DUST
  THE   great   guns   slay   from   a   league   away;   the   death…          bolts   fly
  unseen; And bellowing hill replies to hill; machine to brute                      machine;
  But still in the end when the long lines bend and                     the battle hangs in
  doubt They  take   to   the steel   in   the   same   old   way  that         their   fathers
  fought   it   out   It   is   man   to   man   and   breast   to   breast   and   eye     to
  bloodshot   eye And   the   reach   and   twist   of   the   thrusting   wrist;   as        it
  was in the days gone by!
  Along   the   shaken   hills   the   guns   their   drumming           thunder   roll
  But   the   keen   blades   thrill   with   the   lust   to   kill   that   leaps   from   the
  slayer's soul!
  For hand and heart and living steel; one pulse of                   hate they feel。 Is
  your clan afraid of the naked blade?              Does it          flinch from the bitter
  steel? Perish your dreams of conquest then; your swollen                         hopes and
  bold; For empire dwells with the stabbing blade; as it                     did in the days
  of old!
  THE BUTCHERS AT PRAYER
  (1914)
  EACH nation as it draws the sword                  And flings its standard to the
  air Petitions piously the Lord           Vexing the void abyss with prayer。
  O   irony   too   deep   for   mirth!    O   posturing   apes   that   rant;   and   dare
  This antic attitude!       O Earth;       With your wild jest of wicked prayer!
  I   dare   not   laugh   。   。   。   a   rising   swell Of   laughter   breaks   in   shrieks
  somewhere No doubt they relish it in Hell;                  This cosmic jest of Earth
  at prayer!
  13
  … Page 14…
  DREAMS & DUST
  SHADOWS
  HAUNTED
  (THE GHOST SPEAKS)
  A GHOST is the freak of a sick man's brain?             Then why do ye start
  and shiver so? That's the sob and drip of a leaky drain?             But it sounds
  like another noise we know!          The heavy drops drummed red and slow;
  The   drops   ran   down   as   slow   as   fate Do   ye   hear   them   still?it   was
  long ago! But here in the shadows I wait; I wait!
  Spirits there be that pass in peace;       Mine passed in a whorl of wrath
  and dole; And the hour that your choking breath shall cease              I will get
  my grip on your naked soul          Nor pity may stay nor prayer cajole I
  would drag ye whining from Hell's own gate:              To me; to me; ye   must
  pay the toll! And here in the shadows I wait; I wait!
  The dead they are dead; they are out of the way?           And a ghost is the
  whim     of  an  ailing  mind?   Then    why   did  ye  whiten   with   fear  to…day
  When ye heard a voice in the calling wind?           Why did ye falter and look
  behind At the creeping mists when the hour grew late?               Ye would see
  my face were ye stricken blind! And here in the shadows I wait; I wait!
  Drink and forget; make merry and boast;             But the boast rings false
  and the jest is thin In the hour that I meet ye ghost to ghost;         Stripped
  of the flesh that ye skulk within;        Stripped to the coward soul 'ware of
  its   sin;   Ye   shall   learn;   ye   shall   learn;   whether  dead   men  hate!
  Ah; a weary time has the waiting been; But here in the shadows I wait; I
  wait!
  A NIGHTMARE
  LEAGUES   before   me;   leagues   behind;        Clamor   warring   wastes   of
  flood; All the streams of all the worlds         Flung together; mad of mood;
  Through      the  canon   beats   a  sound;      Regular     of  interval;  Distant;
  14
  … Page 15…
  DREAMS & DUST
  drumming; muffled; dull;         Thunderously rhythmical;
  Crafts   slip   by   my   startled   soul Soul   that   cowers;   a   thing   apart
  They are corpuscles of blood!           That's the throbbing of a heart! God of
  terrors!am I mad?        Through my body; mine own soul; Shrunken to
  an atom's size;      Voyages toward an unguessed goal!
  THE MOTHER
  THE mother by the gallows…tree;           The gallows…tree; the gallows…tree;
  (While the twitching body mocked the sun) Lifted to Heaven her broken
  heart     And called for sympathy。
  Then Mother Mary bent to her;             Bent from her place by God's left
  side; And whispered: 〃Peacedo I not know?             My son was crucified!〃
  〃O Mother Mary;〃   answered she;           〃You   cannot; cannot   enter in To
  my soul's woeyou cannot know            For your son wrought no sin!〃
  (And   men   whose   work   compelled   them   there;       Their   hearts   were
  stricken dead;
  They   heard    the  rope   creak   on  the  beam;     I   thought   I  heard  the
  frightened ghost       Whimpering overhead。)
  The mother by the gallows…tree;           The gallows…tree; the gallows…tree;
  Lifted to Christ her broken heart        And called in agony。
  Then     Lord    Christ  bent   to  her   and   said:     〃Be    comforted;     be
  comforted; I know your grief; the whole world's woe                I bore upon my
  head。〃
  〃But O Lord Christ; you cannot know;            No one can know;〃 she said;
  〃no one〃 (While the quivering corpse swayed in the wind) 〃Lord Christ;
  no one can understand         Who never had a son!〃
  IN THE BAYOU
  LAZY   and   slow;   through   the   snags   and   trees   Move   the   sluggish
  currents;   half  asleep;   Around    and   between    the  cypress   knees;    Like
  black; slow snakes the dark tides creep How deep is the bayou beneath
  the   trees?  〃Knee…deep;               Knee…deep;                            Knee…
  deep;                                     Knee…deep!〃   Croaks   the   big   bullfrog
  15
  … Page 16…
  DREAMS & DUST
  of Reelfoot Lake From his hiding…place in the draggled brake。
  What is the secret the slim reeds know That makes them to shake and
  to shiver so; And the scared flags quiver from plume to foot? The frogs
  pipe    solemnly;    deep    and   slow:   〃Look     under                   the   root!
  Look under                                        the root!〃
  The hoarse frog croaks and the stark owl hoots Of a mystery moored
  in the cypress roots。
  Was it love turned hate?        Was it friend turned foe? Only the frogs and
  the gray owl know;         For the white moon shrouded her face in a mist At
  the spurt of a pistol; red and bright At the sound of a shriek that stabbed
  the night      And the little reeds were frightened and whist; But always
  the eddies whimper and choke; And the frogs would tell if they could; for
  they                   croak:     〃Deep;     deep!                       Death…deep!
  Deep; deep!                                        Death…deep!〃 And the dark tide
  slides and glisters and glides Snakelike over the secret it hides。
  THE SAILOR'S WIFE SPEAKS
  YE are dead; they say; but ye swore; ye swore;                Ye would come to
  me back from the sea! From out of the sea and the night; ye cried; Nor the
  crawling   weed   nor   the   dragging   tide     Could   hold   ye   fast   from   me:
  Come; ah; come to me!
  Three spells I have laid on the rising sun           And three on the waning
  moon Are ye held in the bonds of the night or the day Ye must loosen
  your   bonds   and   away;   away!      Ye   must   come   where   I   wait   ye;   soon
  Ah; soon! soon! soon!
  Three   times   I   have   cast   my   words   to   the   wind; And   thrice   to   the
  climbing sea; If ye drift or dream with the clouds or foam Ye must drift
  again home; ye must drift again                home
  Wraith; ye are free; ye are free;       Ghost; ye are free; ye are free!
  Are the coasts of   death so fair;  so fair?         But I wait   ye here on   the
  shore! It is I that ye hear in the calling wind I have stared through the
  d