For I have
followed
the white folk of the forest.
Ezra-Pound-Provenca-English
Laudantes I have rested with the voices
in the gardens of Ahthor, I have lain beneath the peach-trees
in the hour of the purple:
Because I had awaited in
the garden of the peach-trees, Because I had feared not
in the forest of my mind, Mine eyes beheld the vision of the blossom
There in the peach-gardens past Asedon.
winds of Yrma, let her again come unto me, Whose hair ye held unbound in the gardens of
Ahthor!
vn
Because of the beautiful white shoulders and the rounded breasts
1 can in no wise forget my beloved of the peach-
trees,
And the little winds that speak when the dawn is
unfurled
And the rose-colour in the grey oak-leaf's fold
When it first comes, and the glamour that rests On the little streams in the evening; all of these Call me to her, and all the loveliness in the world Binds me to my beloved with strong chains of gold.
vm
If the rose-petals which have fallen upon my eyes And if the perfect faces which I see at times
54
? When my eyes are closed
Faces fragile, pale, yet flushed a little, like petals of roses :
If these things have confused my memories of her So that I could not draw her face
Even if I had skill and the colours,
Yet because her face is so like these things
They but draw me nearer unto her in my thought
And thoughts of her come upon my mind gently, As dew upon the petals of roses.
DC
He speaks to the rain.
O pearls that hang on your little silver chains, The innumerable voices that are whispering
Among you as you are drawn aside by the wind, Have brought to my mind the soft and eager speech Of one who hath great loveliness,
Which is subtle as the beauty of the rains That hang low in the moonshine and bring
The May softly among us, and unbind
The streams and the crimson and white flowers and
reach
Deep down into the secret places.
x
The glamour of the soul hath come upon me,
And as the twilight comes upon the roses, 55
Laudantei
? Laudantes Walking silently among them,
So have the thoughts of my heart
Gone out slowly in the twilight Toward my beloved,
Toward the crimson rose, the fairest.
PLANH
It is of the white thoughts that he saw in the Forest.
WHIOTE Poppy, heavy with dreams,
White Poppy, who art wiser than love,
Though I am hungry for their lips When I see them a-hiding
And a-passing out and in through the shadows There in the pine wood it is,
And they are white, White Poppy,
They are white like the clouds in the forest of the
sky
Ere the stars arise to their hunting.
White Poppy, who art wiser than love, 1 am come for peace, yea from the hunting Am I come to thee for peace.
Out of a new sorrow it is,
That my hunting hath brought me.
White Poppy, heavy with dreams, Though I am hungry for their lips
When I see them a-hiding
And a-passing out and in through the shadows
And it is white they are 56
? But if one should look at me with the old hunger in Plank
her eyes,
How will I be answering her eyes?
For I have followed the white folk of the forest.
Aye ! It 's a long hunting
And it 's a deep hunger I have when I see them
a-gliding
And a-flickering there, where the trees stand apart.
But oh, it is sorrow and sorrow When love dies-down in the heart.
57
? CANZONIERE
STUDIES IN FORM i
? " Ma qui la morta poesi risurga. "
? TO OLIVIA AND DOROTHY SHAKESPEAR
? OCTAVE
songs, fair songs, these golden usuries FINHeEr beauty earns as but just increment,
And they do speak with a most ill intent
Who say they give when they pay debtor's fees.
I call him bankrupt in the courts of song Who hath her gold to eye and pays her not, Defaulter do I call the knave who hath got Her silver in his heart and doth her wrong.
SONNET IN TENZONE LA MENTE
THOU mocked heart that cowerest by the door
And durst not honour hope with welcoming, How shall one bid thee for her honour sing,
When song would but show forth thy sorrow's
store?
What things are gold and ivory unto thee?
Go forth, thou pauper fool ! Are these for naught? Isheaveninlotusleaves?
in the gardens of Ahthor, I have lain beneath the peach-trees
in the hour of the purple:
Because I had awaited in
the garden of the peach-trees, Because I had feared not
in the forest of my mind, Mine eyes beheld the vision of the blossom
There in the peach-gardens past Asedon.
winds of Yrma, let her again come unto me, Whose hair ye held unbound in the gardens of
Ahthor!
vn
Because of the beautiful white shoulders and the rounded breasts
1 can in no wise forget my beloved of the peach-
trees,
And the little winds that speak when the dawn is
unfurled
And the rose-colour in the grey oak-leaf's fold
When it first comes, and the glamour that rests On the little streams in the evening; all of these Call me to her, and all the loveliness in the world Binds me to my beloved with strong chains of gold.
vm
If the rose-petals which have fallen upon my eyes And if the perfect faces which I see at times
54
? When my eyes are closed
Faces fragile, pale, yet flushed a little, like petals of roses :
If these things have confused my memories of her So that I could not draw her face
Even if I had skill and the colours,
Yet because her face is so like these things
They but draw me nearer unto her in my thought
And thoughts of her come upon my mind gently, As dew upon the petals of roses.
DC
He speaks to the rain.
O pearls that hang on your little silver chains, The innumerable voices that are whispering
Among you as you are drawn aside by the wind, Have brought to my mind the soft and eager speech Of one who hath great loveliness,
Which is subtle as the beauty of the rains That hang low in the moonshine and bring
The May softly among us, and unbind
The streams and the crimson and white flowers and
reach
Deep down into the secret places.
x
The glamour of the soul hath come upon me,
And as the twilight comes upon the roses, 55
Laudantei
? Laudantes Walking silently among them,
So have the thoughts of my heart
Gone out slowly in the twilight Toward my beloved,
Toward the crimson rose, the fairest.
PLANH
It is of the white thoughts that he saw in the Forest.
WHIOTE Poppy, heavy with dreams,
White Poppy, who art wiser than love,
Though I am hungry for their lips When I see them a-hiding
And a-passing out and in through the shadows There in the pine wood it is,
And they are white, White Poppy,
They are white like the clouds in the forest of the
sky
Ere the stars arise to their hunting.
White Poppy, who art wiser than love, 1 am come for peace, yea from the hunting Am I come to thee for peace.
Out of a new sorrow it is,
That my hunting hath brought me.
White Poppy, heavy with dreams, Though I am hungry for their lips
When I see them a-hiding
And a-passing out and in through the shadows
And it is white they are 56
? But if one should look at me with the old hunger in Plank
her eyes,
How will I be answering her eyes?
For I have followed the white folk of the forest.
Aye ! It 's a long hunting
And it 's a deep hunger I have when I see them
a-gliding
And a-flickering there, where the trees stand apart.
But oh, it is sorrow and sorrow When love dies-down in the heart.
57
? CANZONIERE
STUDIES IN FORM i
? " Ma qui la morta poesi risurga. "
? TO OLIVIA AND DOROTHY SHAKESPEAR
? OCTAVE
songs, fair songs, these golden usuries FINHeEr beauty earns as but just increment,
And they do speak with a most ill intent
Who say they give when they pay debtor's fees.
I call him bankrupt in the courts of song Who hath her gold to eye and pays her not, Defaulter do I call the knave who hath got Her silver in his heart and doth her wrong.
SONNET IN TENZONE LA MENTE
THOU mocked heart that cowerest by the door
And durst not honour hope with welcoming, How shall one bid thee for her honour sing,
When song would but show forth thy sorrow's
store?
What things are gold and ivory unto thee?
Go forth, thou pauper fool ! Are these for naught? Isheaveninlotusleaves?
