第 8 节
作者:想聊      更新:2021-02-24 22:40      字数:9321
  How   I   would   thrust   the   miles   aside;    Rush   up   the   quiet   lane;   and
  then; Just where her roses laughed in pride;              Find her among the flowers
  again。   I'd   slip   in   silently   and   wait   Until   she   saw   me   by   the   gate;   And
  then 。 。 。 read through a blur of tears Quick pardon for the selfish years。
  This time; this time; I would not wait For that brief wire that said; Too
  late! If I could only find the way Into the Land of Yesterday。
  I wonder if her roses yet           Lift up their heads and laugh with pride;
  And if her phlox and mignonette              Have heart to blossom by their side; I
  wonder if the dear old lane Still chirps with robins after rain; And if the
  birds and banded bees Still rob her early cherry…trees。 。 。 。
  I wonder; if I went there now; How everything would seem; and how
  But no! not now; there is no way Back to the Land of Yesterday。
  OCTOBER
  CEASE to call him sad and sober; Merriest of months; October! Patron
  of the bursting bins; Reveler in wayside inns; I can nowhere find a trace
  Of the pensive in his face; There is mingled wit and folly; But the madcap
  lacks   the   grace   Of   a   thoughtful   melancholy。   Spendthrift   of   the   seasons'
  gold; How he flings and scatters out Treasure filched from summer…time!
  Never ruffling squire of old Better loved a tavern bout When Prince Hal
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  was in his prime。 Doublet slashed with gold and green; Cloak of crimson;
  changeful   sheen;   Of   the   dews   that   gem  his   breast;   Frosty  lace   about   his
  throat;
  Scarlet     plumes    that   flaunt   and   float  Backward       in  a  gay   unrest
  Where's   another   gallant   drest With   such   tricksy   gaiety;   Such   unlessoned
  vanity? With his amber afternoons And his pendant poets' moons With
  his twilights dashed with rose From the red…lipped afterglows With his
  vocal airs at dawn Breathing hints of Helicon Bacchanalian bees that sip
  Where   his   cider…presses   drip   With   the   winding   of   the   horn   Where   his
  huntsmen   meet   the   morn   With   his   every   piping   breeze   Shaking   from
  familiar trees Apples of Hesperides With the chuckle; chirp; and trill Of
  his jolly brooks that spill Mirth in tangled madrigals Down pebble…dappled
  waterfalls   (Brooks   that   laugh   and   make   escape   Through   wild   arbors
  where the grape
  Purples with a promise of Racy vintage rare as love) With his merry;
  wanton   air;   Mirth   and   vanity  and   folly Why   should   he   be   made   to   bear
  Burden of some melancholy Song that swoons and sinks with care? Cease
  to call him sad or sober; He's a jolly dog; October!
  CHANT OF THE CHANGING HOURS
  THE   Hours   passed   by;   a   fleet;   confused   crowd;        With   wafture   of
  blown garments bright as fire; Light; light of foot and laughing; morning…
  browed;        And   where   they   trod   the   jonquil   and   the   briar   Thrilled   into
  jocund life; the dreaming dells Waked to a morrice chime of jostled bells;…
  … They danced! they danced! to piping such as                        flings The garnered
  music     of   a  million   Springs       Into   one   single;   keener    ecstasy;    One
  paused   and   shouted   to   my   questionings:         〃Lo;   I   am  Youth;   I   bid   thee
  follow me!〃
  The     Hours    passed    by;  they   paced;    great   lords   and            proud;
  Crowned   on   with   sunlight;   robed   in   rich   attire;   Before   their   conquering
  word     the   brute   deed            bowed;       And     Ariel   fancies   served    their
  large desire;
  They spake; and roused the mused soul that dwells In dust; or; smiling;
  shaped      new   heavens     and           hells;    Dethroned     old   gods   and   made
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  blind   beggars   kings:   〃And   what   art   thou;〃   I   cried   to   one;   〃that   brings
  His mistress; for a brooch; the Galaxy?〃 〃I am the plumed Thought that
  soars and sings:        Lo; I am Song; I bid thee follow me!〃
  The   Hours   passed   by;   with   veiled   eyes   endowed         Of   dream;   and
  parted   lips   that   scarce   suspire;  To   breathing   dusk   and   arrowy   moonlight
  vowed;        South wind and shadowy grove and murmuring                            lyre;
  Swaying they moved; as drows'd of wizard spells Or tranc'd with sight of
  recent miracles; And yet they trembled; down their folded wings Quivered
  the hint of sweet withholden things;              Ah; bitter…sweet in their intensity!
  One paused and said unto my wonderings:                   〃Lo; I am Love; I bid thee
  follow me!〃
  The Hours passed by; through huddled cities loud                  With witless hate
  and stale with stinking mire:
  So cowled monks might march with bier and shroud                       Down streets
  plague…spotted   toward   some   cleans…                 ing   pyre;   Yet;   lo!   strange
  lilies bloomed in lightless cells; And passionate spirits burst their clayey
  shells And   sang   the   stricken   hope   that   bleeds   and           clings:   Earth's
  bruised     heart  beat   in  the  throbbing     strings;     And     joy  still  struggled
  through the threnody! One stern Hour said unto my marvelings:                       〃Lo; I
  am Life; I bid thee follow me!〃
  The    Hours     passed    by;  the   stumbling     hours    and              cowed;
  Uncertain; prone to tears and childish ire; The wavering hours that drift
  like   any   cloud      At   whim   of   winds   or   fortunate   or   dire;   The   feeble
  shapes that any chance expells; Their wisdom useless; lacking the blood
  that swells The tensed vein: the hot; swift tide that stings With life。                Ah;
  wise! but naked to the slings           Of fate; and plagued of youthful memory!
  A  cracked   voice   broke   upon   my   pityings:        〃Lo;   I   am Age;   I   bid   thee
  follow me!〃
  Ah; Youth! we dallied by the babbling wells Where April all her lyric
  secret tells; Ah;  Song!  we  sped our  bold imaginings As   far  as   yon   red
  planet's   triple   rings;    O   Life!   O   Love!     I   followed;   followed   thee!
  There waits one word to end my  journeyings:                   〃Lo; I am Death; I bid
  thee follow me!〃
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  DREAMS AND DUST
  SELVES
  My   dust   in   ruined   Babylon       Is   blown   along   the   level   plain;   And
  songs of mine at dawn have soared              Above the blue Sicilian main。
  We   are   ourselves;  and not   ourselves   。  。  。   For   ever   thwarting   pride
  and   will   Some   forebear's   passion   leaps   from   death        To   claim   a   vital
  license still。
  Ancestral lusts that slew and died;           Resurgent; swell each living vein;
  Old doubts and faiths; new panoplied;              Dispute the mastery of the brain。
  The love of liberty that flames           From written rune and stricken reed
  Shook the hot hearts of swordsmen sires               At Marathon and Runnymede。
  What are these things we call our 〃selves〃? 。 。 。             Have I not shouted;
  sobbed; and died In the bright surf of spears that broke                  Where Greece
  rolled back the Persian tide?
  Are   we   who   breathe   more   quick   than   they     Whose   bones   are   dust
  within   the   tomb?   Nay;   as   I   write;   what   gray   old   ghosts Murmur   and
  mock me from the gloom。 。 。 。
  They     call  。  。  。  across  strange  seas   they   call;    Strange    seas;   and
  haunted   coasts   of   time。   。   。   。  They   startle   me   with   wordless   songs To
  which the Sphinx hath known the rhyme。
  Our hearts swell big with dead men's hates;               Our eyes sting hot with
  dead men's tears; We are ourselves; but not ourselves;                  Born heirs; but
  serfs; to all the years!
  I   rode   with   Nimrod   。   。   。   strove   at   Troy   。   。   。 A   slave   I   stood   in
  Crowning       Tyre;   A   queen    looked    on  me    and   I  loved     And     died   to
  compass my desire。
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  THE WAGES
  EARTH loves to gibber o'er her dross;        Her golden souls; to waste;
  The cup she fills for