'T was not until the gods had been
Kindly entreated, and been brought within Unto the hearth of their heart's home That they might do this wonder thing; Nathless I have been a tree amid the wood And many a new thing understood
That was rank folly to my head before.
Kindly entreated, and been brought within Unto the hearth of their heart's home That they might do this wonder thing; Nathless I have been a tree amid the wood And many a new thing understood
That was rank folly to my head before.
Ezra-Pound-Provenca-English
I have drawn my blade where the lightnings meet But the ending is the same:
Who loseth to God as the sword blades lose
Shall win at the end of the game.
For God, our God, is a gallant foe
that playeth behind the veil,
Whom God deigns not to overthrow
hath need of triple mail.
20
? AT THE HEART O' ME A. D. 751
j ever one fear at the heart o me
WITH still sea-coasts Long by
coursed my Grey-Falcon, And the twin delights
of shore and sea were mine, Sapphire and emerald with
fine pearls between.
Through the pale courses of
the land-caressing in-streams Glided my barge and
the kindly strange peoples Gave to me laugh for laugh,
and wine for my tales of wandering. And the cities gave me welcome
and the fields free passage, With ever one fear
j
at the heart o me.
An thou should'st grow weary
ere my returning,
An "they" should call to thee
from out the borderland, What should avail me
booty of whale-ways? What should avail me
gold rings or the chain-mail? What should avail me
the many-twined bracelets? What should avail me,
O my beloved,
21
? At the g ^|j
Here in this "Middan-gard" what should avail me
Out of the booty and gain of my goings?
*
THE TREE
From " A Lume Spento. "
T STOOD still and was a tree amid the wood,
A Knowing the truth of things unseen before; Of Daphne and the laurel bow
And that god-feasting couple old
That grew elm-oak amid the wold.
'T was not until the gods had been
Kindly entreated, and been brought within Unto the hearth of their heart's home That they might do this wonder thing; Nathless I have been a tree amid the wood And many a new thing understood
That was rank folly to my head before.
AN IDYL FOR GLAUCUS
Nel suo aspetto tal dentro mifei Glauco nel gustar del? erba
guahlesilffe"**consorto in mar degli altri dei* PARADISO, i, 67-9. "As Glaucus tasting the grass that made
hint sea-fellow with the other gods. "
I
WHITHER he went I may not follow him.
His eyes Were strange to-day. They always were,
After their fashion, kindred of the sea.
i Anglo-Saxon, "Earth. " 22
? To-dayIfoundhim. Itwasverylong
That I had sought among the nets, and when I
asked
The fishermen, they laughed at me.
I sought long days amid the cliffs thinking to find The body-house of him, and then
There at the blue cave-mouth my joy
Grew pain for suddenness, to see him 'live. Whither he went I may not come, it seems
He is become estranged from all the rest,
And all the sea is now his wonder-house.
And he may sink unto strange depths, he tells me of, That have no light as we it deem. E'ennowhespeaksstrangewords. Ididnotknow One half the substance of his speech with me.
