 | The house of the titans and other poems |  |
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WOOD WAYS
Thus did the laughing king, the magic-maker,Draw me into the wind-glittering wood
By an enchantment of blown boughs and lights,
And faint and myriad flickerings within
The many-pillared palace of leaves. The air,
A flying girl, flame-limbed, before me runs
Sprinkling the dark with jewels. Eyes are dizzy
With sudden colour. O, the hyacinths!
I fall on knees watching the laughing king
Hide stars in wild blossoms. On moss I lie,
My eyes are shuttered but the earth is airy,
Dense to the body, to the spirit most clear.
O, it was so in the golden age. Men lived
In the bright fire, in air, in earth. They knew
Only the being of the laughing king
And had no name for themselves. A night
Of many million years breaks now to dawn.
As the numbed limb quickening to life becomes
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Quickens within me. Why was the spirit numb
In a little dust? I glow to the full orb.
Upon its burnished uplands what shining dancers,
With what unfallen beauty, what wild innocence
Make visible the laughter of their king!
By what fleet witchery of limb the inaudible
Becomes music to the eye, joy in the heart!
What secret lies behind the lovely light?
What lovelier darkness, from which spirit-clear
Voices call to me, “O, come home, come home!”
| The house of the titans and other poems | |