Yea, she hath passed hereby and blessed the sheaves And the great garths and stacks and quiet farms, And all the tawny and the crimson leaves,
Yea, she hath passed with poppies in her arms Under the star of dusk through stealing mist
_ And blest the earth and gone while no man wist.
Yea, she hath passed with poppies in her arms Under the star of dusk through stealing mist
_ And blest the earth and gone while no man wist.
Ezra-Pound-Provenca-English
IV
Love that is born of Time and comes and goes ! Love that doth hold all noble hearts in fief!
As red leaves follow where the wind hath flown, So all men follow Love when Love is dead.
O Fate of Wind ! O Wind that cannot spare, But drivest out the Maid, and pourest lees
Of all thy crimson on the wold again,
65
Fear/y slain
? Kore my heart is, let it stand sans gloze ! Love's pain is long, and lo, love's joy is brief ! My heart erst alway sweet is bitter grown; As crimson ruleth in the good green's stead, So grief hath taken all mine old joy's share And driven forth my solace and all ease Where pleasure bows to all-usurping pain.
VI
Crimson the hearth where one last ember glows ! My heart's new winter hath no such relief,
Nor thought of Spring whose blossom he hath
known
Hath turned him back where Spring is banished. Barren the heart and dead the fires there,
Blow! O ye ashes, where the winds shall please, But cry, "Love also is the Yearly Slain. "
vn
Be sped, my Canzon, through the bitter air ! To him who speaketh words as fair as these, Say that I also know the "Yearly Slain. "
KORE
From the " Poems of Frederic Manning,'* published by John Murray, with whose permission we here reprint it.
Yea, she hath passed hereby and blessed the sheaves And the great garths and stacks and quiet farms, And all the tawny and the crimson leaves,
Yea, she hath passed with poppies in her arms Under the star of dusk through stealing mist
_ And blest the earth and gone while no man wist.
66
? With slow reluctant feet and weary eyes Kore And eyelids heavy with the coming sleep,
With small breasts lifted up in stress of sighs,
She passed as shadows pass amid the sheep
While the earth dreamed and only I was ware Of that faint fragrance blown from her soft hair.
The land lay steeped in peace of silent dreams, There was no sound amid the sacred boughs Nor any mournful music in her streams,
Only I saw the shadow on her brows,
Only I knew her for the Yearly Slain
And wept, and weep until she come again.
CANZON: THE SPEAR
[This fashion of stanza is used by Jaufre Rudel in the song "D'un amordelonh. " Themeasureistobesungratherthanspoken. ]
IS the clear light of love I praise
That steadfast gloweth o'er deep waters,
A clarity that gleams always.
Though man's soul pass through troubled waters, Strange ways tp him are opened.
To shore the beaten ship is sped
If only love of light give aid.
ii
That fair far spear of light now lays Its long gold shaft upon the waters. Ah ! might I pass upon its rays
To where it gleams beyond the waters, 67
? Canzon: Spear
Or might my troubled heart be fed UpOn the frail clear light there shed>
Then were my pain at last allay'd.
ni
Although the clouded storm dismays Many a heart upon these waters, The thought of that far golden blaze Giveth me heart upon the waters, Thinking thereof my bark is led
To port wherein no storm I dread; No tempest maketh me afraid.
IV
Yet when within my heart I gaze
Upon my fair beyond the waters, Meseems my soul within me prays
To pass straightway beyond the waters. Though I be alway banished
From ways and woods that she doth tread, One thing there is that doth not fade,
Deep in my heart that spear-print stays, That wound I gat beyond the waters,
Deeper with passage of the days
That pass as swift and bitter waters, While a dull fire within my head Moveth itself if word be said
Which hath concern with that far maid.
