 | Collected poems of Edwin Arlington Robinson |  |
1200
ANNANDALE AGAIN
Almost as if my thought of him
Had called him from he said not where,
He knocked. I knew him through the door,
And Annandale was waiting there.
Had called him from he said not where,
He knocked. I knew him through the door,
And Annandale was waiting there.
Nothing of years or distances,
Or deserts that he may have ranged,
Betrayed him. He was Annandale,
The only man who never changed.
Or deserts that he may have ranged,
Betrayed him. He was Annandale,
The only man who never changed.
“Do as you must,” he said, “and God
Will say that you have done no wrong.
Begin by disappointing me,
And ask where I have been so long.
Will say that you have done no wrong.
Begin by disappointing me,
And ask where I have been so long.
“What matter's it where I have been,
Or on what mountain or what star?
All places are as much alike
As all men and all women are—
Or on what mountain or what star?
All places are as much alike
As all men and all women are—
“Which is not much. The best of us
Are curiously unlike the worst;
And for some time, at any rate,
The last shall never be the first.
Are curiously unlike the worst;
And for some time, at any rate,
The last shall never be the first.
“Wherefore I leave them, having done
No harm to them, or none to show.”—
There was no liking such a man;
You loved him, or you let him go.
No harm to them, or none to show.”—
There was no liking such a man;
You loved him, or you let him go.
“Dreamers who crave a common yoke
For bulls and ewes and elephants
May have it; and my having mine
May be a soothing circumstance
For bulls and ewes and elephants
May have it; and my having mine
May be a soothing circumstance
1201
“For you and me, and for my wife;
I mean my new wife Damaris.
I'll tell you, if you must be told,
The sort of woman that she is.
I mean my new wife Damaris.
I'll tell you, if you must be told,
The sort of woman that she is.
“When Miriam died, my former wife,
I wept and said that all was done;
Yet even as long ago as then
My darkness had a smothered sun
I wept and said that all was done;
Yet even as long ago as then
My darkness had a smothered sun
“Behind it, trying to shine through.
More like a living voice of light
It was, than like the sun itself,
And my night was not wholly night.
More like a living voice of light
It was, than like the sun itself,
And my night was not wholly night.
“And my world was not wholly gone,
As I had feared. Well, hardly so.
I wonder we should learn to live,
Where there's so much for us to know.
As I had feared. Well, hardly so.
I wonder we should learn to live,
Where there's so much for us to know.
“For that, we don't. We live meanwhile;
And then, with nothing learned, we die.
God has been very good to him
Whose end is not an asking why.
And then, with nothing learned, we die.
God has been very good to him
Whose end is not an asking why.
“But I'm astray, beginning ill
To lose myself in setting out;
It was my new wife Damaris
That you were asking me about.
To lose myself in setting out;
It was my new wife Damaris
That you were asking me about.
“Your interest was an innocence,
And your concern was no surprise.
Well, I have brought her home with me,
And you may find her in my eyes.
And your concern was no surprise.
Well, I have brought her home with me,
And you may find her in my eyes.
“In general, there's no more to tell;
Yet there's this in particular:
She knows the way the good God made
My fur to lie; and there you are.
Yet there's this in particular:
1202
My fur to lie; and there you are.
“And that's enough; you know the rest.
You know as much as I may learn,
Should we go to the end of time
Together, and through time return
You know as much as I may learn,
Should we go to the end of time
Together, and through time return
“To now again. I should like that,
Ad infinitum. So you see
How graciously has fate prepared
A most agreeable trap for me.
Ad infinitum. So you see
How graciously has fate prepared
A most agreeable trap for me.
“For where we stay because we must,
Prison or cage or sacrament,
We're in a trap. This world is one,
Obscurely sprung for our ascent,
Prison or cage or sacrament,
We're in a trap. This world is one,
Obscurely sprung for our ascent,
“Maybe, till we are out of it,
And in another. Once I thought
My cage was dark; but there was light
To let me see that I was caught
And in another. Once I thought
My cage was dark; but there was light
To let me see that I was caught
“For always there, with Damaris
In the same cage. It's large enough
To hold as many as two of us,
With no constraint worth speaking of.
In the same cage. It's large enough
To hold as many as two of us,
With no constraint worth speaking of.
“The Keeper, who's invisible,
Reveals himself in many a sign,
To caution me that I shall read
And heed the benefits that are mine—
Reveals himself in many a sign,
To caution me that I shall read
And heed the benefits that are mine—
“I don't say hers. Still, if she likes
Her cage with me, and says it's home,
And sings in it, what shall I say
That you may not find wearisome?
Her cage with me, and says it's home,
And sings in it, what shall I say
That you may not find wearisome?
1203
“You doctors, who have found so much
In matter that it's hardly there,
May all, in your discomfiture,
Anon be on your knees in prayer
In matter that it's hardly there,
May all, in your discomfiture,
Anon be on your knees in prayer
“For larger presence of what is
In what is not. Then you will see
Why Damaris, who knows everything,
Knows how to find so much in me.
In what is not. Then you will see
Why Damaris, who knows everything,
Knows how to find so much in me.
“She finds what I have never found
Before; and there's a fearsome doubt,
Sometimes, that slumbers and awaits
A day when Damaris finds out
Before; and there's a fearsome doubt,
Sometimes, that slumbers and awaits
A day when Damaris finds out
“How much of undistinguished man
There is in her new destiny.
When she divines it, I shall not
Be told, or not immediately—
There is in her new destiny.
When she divines it, I shall not
Be told, or not immediately—
“Nor ever, if I'm as amiable
As her attention apprehends.
I'm watching her, and hiding tight
Within me several odds and ends
As her attention apprehends.
I'm watching her, and hiding tight
Within me several odds and ends
“Of insights and forbearances
And cautious ways of being kind,
That she has dropped like handkerchiefs,
Conceivably for me to find.
And cautious ways of being kind,
That she has dropped like handkerchiefs,
Conceivably for me to find.
“But one shall not acquire all this
At once, or so it would appear.
I've lain awake establishing
Her permutations in a year—
At once, or so it would appear.
I've lain awake establishing
Her permutations in a year—
1204
“Not always indispensable,
You say; and yet, for recompense,
Revealing, when it looks like rain,
A refuge of intelligence;
You say; and yet, for recompense,
Revealing, when it looks like rain,
A refuge of intelligence;
“Which, with all honor to the rest
That makes a cage enjoyable,
Is not the least of ornaments
That every woman may as well
That makes a cage enjoyable,
Is not the least of ornaments
That every woman may as well
“Inherit as an amulet
For disillusions unforeseen—
Assuming always that for her
May still be some that have not been.
For disillusions unforeseen—
Assuming always that for her
May still be some that have not been.
“Meanwhile, perfection has a price
That humor always has to pay
With patience, as a man may learn
Of woman when she has her way.
That humor always has to pay
With patience, as a man may learn
Of woman when she has her way.
“While Miriam lived, I made a book
To make another woman wise.
Blessed are they who are not born
Above instruction by surprise.
To make another woman wise.
Blessed are they who are not born
Above instruction by surprise.
“But there was wisdom in it too;
And there are times her eyes are wet
With wonder that I should foresee
So much of her before we met.
And there are times her eyes are wet
With wonder that I should foresee
So much of her before we met.
“Again, when her complexities
Are restive, or she may have bruised
An elbow on the bars of home,
I may be for a time confused;
Are restive, or she may have bruised
An elbow on the bars of home,
I may be for a time confused;
1205
“But not for long. She gratifies
A casual need of giving pain;
And having drawn a little blood,
She folds her paws and purrs again.
A casual need of giving pain;
And having drawn a little blood,
She folds her paws and purrs again.
“So all goes well; and with our wits
Awake, should go indefinitely—
Sufficient without subterfuge,
Harmonious without history.
Awake, should go indefinitely—
Sufficient without subterfuge,
Harmonious without history.
“You'll find us cheerful prisoners
Enough, with nothing to bewail.
I've told you about Damaris;
And I'll go home.”—Poor Annandale!
Enough, with nothing to bewail.
I've told you about Damaris;
And I'll go home.”—Poor Annandale!
Poor Damaris! He did not go
So far as home that afternoon.
It may be they offended fate
With harmonies too much in tune
So far as home that afternoon.
It may be they offended fate
With harmonies too much in tune
For a discordant earth to share
Unslain, or it may just have been,
Like stars and leaves and marmosets,
Fruition of a force unseen.
Unslain, or it may just have been,
Like stars and leaves and marmosets,
Fruition of a force unseen.
There was a sick crash in the street,
And after that there was no doubt
Of what there was; and I was there
To watch while Annandale went out.
And after that there was no doubt
Of what there was; and I was there
To watch while Annandale went out.
No pleasure was awaiting me,
And there would have been none for you;
And mine was the one light I had
To show me the one thing to do.
And there would have been none for you;
And mine was the one light I had
To show me the one thing to do.
1206
Sometimes I'll ask myself, alone,
The measure of her debt to me
If some of him were still alive,
And motionless, for her to see;
The measure of her debt to me
If some of him were still alive,
And motionless, for her to see;
Sometimes I'll ask if Annandale,
Could he have seen so far ahead,
Had been so sure as I am now
Of more than all he might have said.
Could he have seen so far ahead,
Had been so sure as I am now
Of more than all he might have said.
I'll ask, and ask, and always ask,
And have no answer; or none yet.
The gain that lives in woman's loss
Is one that woman may forget
And have no answer; or none yet.
The gain that lives in woman's loss
Is one that woman may forget
For a long time. A doctor knows
The nature of an accident;
And Damaris, who knows everything,
May still be asking what it meant.
The nature of an accident;
And Damaris, who knows everything,
May still be asking what it meant.
| Collected poems of Edwin Arlington Robinson | |