Eidola

Published by Good Press, 2019

goodpress@okpublishing.info

EAN 4057664595539

Table of Contents

THE CHOOSERS

SACRIFICE

RELIEVED

For S. J. Kimm

REACTION

THE OLD CALVARY

To the Rev. D. L. Prosser

THE GUNS

THE SIGN

A SHELL

THE FACE

WIND

BOIS DE MAMETZ

For H. L.

THE TRENCHES

LEAVES

TRANSPORT

αὑτἁρκεια

EPIGRAM, R. B.

NOW

GROTESQUE

DESIRE

BLUE AND GOLD

GANHARDINE’S SONG

THE SOUL’S ANSWER

WINTER

To U. A. T.

THE FAUN

THE CUP

PAROLES SANS MUSIQUE

For Jelly d’Arànyi

DANAE

WORSHIP

TO A GIRL

(Miss E. F.)

EROS ATHANATOS

DEMETER MOURNING

THE LOST ANGEL

THE MOCKING SONG

THE MOTHER

MEDITATION

THE HONEY GATHERER

CROCUS SONG

For M. C.

THE IMAGE SELLER

SIMAETHA

For D. S. D.

TO THE UNKNOWN GODDESS

HURLEYWAYNE

For M. S.

TO SÀÏ

THE SHEPHERDS’ CAROL OF BETHLEHEM

PAST

THE BELOVED

(To the Countess of Kintore)

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THE CHOOSERS

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O ye! Fragile, tremulous
Haunters of the deep glades,
Whose fingers part the leaves
Of beech and aspen ere ye slip thro’,
Shall I see ye again?

Men have said unto me:
These are but flying lights and shadows,
Light on the beech-boles, clouds shadowing the corn-fields,
The wind in the flame of birches in autumn,
Wind shadowing the clear pools.
But ye cried, laughing, down the wind:
Men are but shadows, but a vain breath!

So here cometh unto me
That cry from the rejoicing air:
Men are but shadows! And prone about me
I see them, hushed and sleeping in the hut,
Made solemn and holy by the night,
In the dead light o’ the moon:
Shadowy, swathed in their blankets,
As sleep, in hewn sepulchral caves,
Egypt’s and Asia’s kings.
While between them are the footsteps
Of glittering presences, who say: Lo, one
To be a sword upon my thigh!
And the sleepers stir restlessly and murmur
As between them pass
The bright-mailed choosers of the dead.

Shall I see ye again, O flying feet
O’ the forest-haunters, while I couch silent,
In a wet brake o’ blossom,
Dark ivy wreathing your whiteness;
Ere I am torn from the scabbard:
(Lo, one
To be a sword upon my thigh!)
Knowing no longer that earth
Lieth in the dews, shining and sacred?

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SACRIFICE

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Love suffereth all things.
And we,
Out of the travail and pain of our striving,
Bring unto thee the perfect prayer:
For the heart of no man uttereth love,
Suffering even for love’s sake.

For us no splendid apparel of pageantry,
Burnished breast-plates, scarlet banners and trumpets
Sounding exultantly.
But the mean things of the earth hast thou chosen,
Decked them with suffering,
Made them beautiful with the passion for rightness,
Strong with the pride of love.

Yea, tho’ our praise of thee slayeth us,
Yet love shall exalt us beside thee triumphant,
Dying, that these live:
And the earth again be beautiful with orchards,
Yellow with wheatfields,
And the lips of others praise thee, tho’ our lips
Be stopped with earth, and songless.

But we shall have brought thee their praises,
Brought unto thee the perfect prayer:
For the lips of no man uttereth love,
Suffering even for love’s sake.

O God of sorrows,
Whose feet come softly thro’ the dews,
Stoop thou unto us,
For we die so thou livest,
Our hearts the cups of thy vintage:
And the lips of no man uttereth love,
Suffering even for love’s sake.

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RELIEVED

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For S. J. Kimm

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We are weary and silent,
There is only the rhythm of marching feet;
Tho’ we move tranced, we keep it
As clock-work toys.

But each man is alone in this multitude;
We know not the world in which we move,
Seeing not the dawn, earth pale and shadowy,
Level lands of tenuous grays and greens;
For our eye-balls have been seared with fire.

Only we have our secret thoughts,
Our sense floats out from us, delicately apprehensive,
To the very fringes of our being,
Where light drowns.

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REACTION

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