Frederic Manning
Eidola
Published by Good Press, 2022
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)
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?
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.
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.
REACTION
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