 |
 |
 | The golden whales of California and other rhymes in the American language |  |
31
RAMESES II
Would that the brave Rameses, King of TimeWere throned in your souls, to raise for you
Vast immemorial dreams dark Egypt knew,
Filling these barren days with Mystery,
With Life and Death, and Immortality,
The Devouring Ages, the all-consuming Sun:
God keep us brooding on eternal things,
God make us wizard-kings.
32
MOSES
Yet let us raise that Egypt-nurtured prince,Son of a Hebrew, with the dauntless scorn
And hate for bleating gods Egyptian-born,
Showing with signs to stubborn Mizraim
“God is one God, the God of Abraham,”
He who in the beginning made the Sun.
God send us Moses from his hidden grave,
God make us meek and brave.
38
A MEDITATION ON THE SUN
I
Come, let us think upon the great that came
Our spiritual solar-kings, whose fame
Is quenchless in the lands of mental light,
High planets in the vast historic game:
Our spiritual solar-kings, whose fame
Is quenchless in the lands of mental light,
High planets in the vast historic game:
Youths from the sky, they came in splendid flight.
We hold to them as to our day and night,
And by them measure out our moments here,
Our greatness, littleness, and wrong and right.
We hold to them as to our day and night,
And by them measure out our moments here,
Our greatness, littleness, and wrong and right.
For like the sun, we carry yesteryears
Within our wallets: all the ancient fears
And scorns and triumphs woven in our cloaks,
Our tall plumes bought with some lost race's tears.
Within our wallets: all the ancient fears
And scorns and triumphs woven in our cloaks,
Our tall plumes bought with some lost race's tears.
Oh sun, I wish that all the nations bright
You ever looked upon were in my sight,
That I had stood up in your royal car
With your eye-rays to search out field and height:
You ever looked upon were in my sight,
That I had stood up in your royal car
With your eye-rays to search out field and height:
39
To see young David, leading forth his sheep,
The Christ Child on the Hill of Nazareth sleep,
To watch proud Dante climb the stranger's stairs,
To see the ocean round Columbus leap.
The Christ Child on the Hill of Nazareth sleep,
To watch proud Dante climb the stranger's stairs,
To see the ocean round Columbus leap.
And beauty absolute man's heart has known
In those old hills where the Greek blood was sown,
They named you young Apollo in that day
And served you well, and loved your chariot-throne.
In those old hills where the Greek blood was sown,
They named you young Apollo in that day
And served you well, and loved your chariot-throne.
Would I had looked on Venice in her prime.
And long had watched the prayerful Gothic time
When Notre Dame arose, a mystery there
In wicked good old Paris and its grime!
And long had watched the prayerful Gothic time
When Notre Dame arose, a mystery there
In wicked good old Paris and its grime!
II
Oh light, light, light! Oh Sun your light is good.
You stir the sap of garden, field and wood,
Of men and ages. And your deeds are fair,
And by this light, is God's love understood.
You stir the sap of garden, field and wood,
Of men and ages. And your deeds are fair,
And by this light, is God's love understood.
So let us think upon Creation's days
And Great Jehovah Moses came to praise:—
The God the Hebrews said excelled the sun,
To whom all psalms are due, who made the ways
And Great Jehovah Moses came to praise:—
The God the Hebrews said excelled the sun,
To whom all psalms are due, who made the ways
40
The sun shall follow till he burns no more
Till he is cold and clinkered to the core.
Praise God, and not the sun too much, my soul,
The God behind the sun we must adore.
Till he is cold and clinkered to the core.
Praise God, and not the sun too much, my soul,
The God behind the sun we must adore.
III
Oh Sun, that yet will my spring thoughts astound,
How often this lone mendicant you found
Stripped in your presence of all earthly things.
A happy dervish whirling round and round.
How often this lone mendicant you found
Stripped in your presence of all earthly things.
A happy dervish whirling round and round.
You were his tree of incense and his feast,
You were his wagon and his harnessed beast,
His singing brother, yet his tyrant hard,
With whip and spur and shout that never ceased.
You were his wagon and his harnessed beast,
His singing brother, yet his tyrant hard,
With whip and spur and shout that never ceased.
He thought of Freedom that rides round with you
Healing the nations with a crystal dew,
The comrade of your car, with Science there,
Making the ways of men forever new.
Healing the nations with a crystal dew,
The comrade of your car, with Science there,
Making the ways of men forever new.
Would we might lift a mighty battle-cry.
Nations and mendicants, and shake your sky:
Would that you caught us singing as one man
That song I sang when begging days began
Hearing it in every beam on high:
“Man's spirit-darkness shall forever die.”
Nations and mendicants, and shake your sky:
41
That song I sang when begging days began
Hearing it in every beam on high:
“Man's spirit-darkness shall forever die.”
42
DANTE
Would we were lean and grim, and shaken with hateLike Dante, fugitive, o'er-wrought with cares,
And climbing bitterly the stranger's stairs,
Yet Love, Love, Love, divining: finding still
Beyond dark Hell the penitential hill,
And blessed Beatrice beyond the grave.
Jehovah lead us through the wilderness:
God make our wandering brave.
87
THE APPLE BLOSSOM SNOW BLUES
[_]
A “blues” is a song in the mood of Milton's Il Penseroso, or a paragraph from Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy. This present production is the chronicle of the secret soul of a vaudeville man, as he dances in the limelight with his haughty lady. Let the reader take special pains to make his own tune for this production, to a very delicate drum beat.
“Your
Dandelion beauty,
Your
Cherry-blossom beauty,
Your
Apple-blossom beauty,
I will dance as I can,
O
You rag time lady,
O
You jazz dancing lady,
O
You blues-singing lady,”
Thinks the blues-singing man.
Dandelion beauty,
Your
Cherry-blossom beauty,
Your
Apple-blossom beauty,
I will dance as I can,
O
You rag time lady,
O
You jazz dancing lady,
88
You blues-singing lady,”
Thinks the blues-singing man.
“Your
Grace and slightness,
And your fragrant whiteness,
Make me see the bending
Of an apple-blossom bough.
You
Are a fairy,
Yet a jump-jazz dancer,
And your heart
Is a robin,
Singing, making merry
With the apple-flowers now.”
Grace and slightness,
And your fragrant whiteness,
Make me see the bending
Of an apple-blossom bough.
You
Are a fairy,
Yet a jump-jazz dancer,
And your heart
Is a robin,
Singing, making merry
With the apple-flowers now.”
See him kneel and canter
And smirk and banter,
And essay her heart
While the gourd horns blow.
For he is her lover
And
Her dancing partner,
In the blues he made
Called “The Apple Blossom Snow.”
And smirk and banter,
And essay her heart
While the gourd horns blow.
For he is her lover
And
Her dancing partner,
In the blues he made
Called “The Apple Blossom Snow.”
89
She does her duty
No more
Than her duty,
Yet the packed house cheers
To the gallery rim.
Her young scorn fires them,
Its pep inspires them,
They watch her lover
And envy him.
No more
Than her duty,
Yet the packed house cheers
To the gallery rim.
Her young scorn fires them,
Its pep inspires them,
They watch her lover
And envy him.
He does not fathom
What her heart has in keeping
Till that last circus leaping
Takes all by surprise.
Then he catches her softly,
Saves her gently,
And a mood for his soul
Lights her pansy eyes.
What her heart has in keeping
Till that last circus leaping
Takes all by surprise.
Then he catches her softly,
Saves her gently,
And a mood for his soul
Lights her pansy eyes.
Then
She steps rare measures.
Her eyes are treasures.
Brave truth shines out
From her young-witch glance.
From the velvety shade,
Ah, the thoughts of the maid.
Relenting glory,
Unveiled by chance.
She steps rare measures.
Her eyes are treasures.
Brave truth shines out
From her young-witch glance.
From the velvety shade,
90
Relenting glory,
Unveiled by chance.
Though soon thereafter
She hides in laughter,
And flouts all his loving,
He will dance as he can,
As he can,
Like a man,
With his jazz dancing wonder,
With his pansy blossom wonder,
With his apple blossom wonder,
With his rag time lady,
The
Rag
Time
Man.
She hides in laughter,
And flouts all his loving,
He will dance as he can,
As he can,
Like a man,
With his jazz dancing wonder,
With his pansy blossom wonder,
With his apple blossom wonder,
With his rag time lady,
The
Rag
Time
Man.
97
THE CONSCIENTIOUS DEACON
A song to be syncopated as you please
Black cats, grey cats, green cats miau—
Chasing the deacon who stole the cow.
Chasing the deacon who stole the cow.
He runs and tumbles, he tumbles and runs.
He sees big white men with dogs and guns.
He sees big white men with dogs and guns.
He falls down flat. He turns to stare—
No cats, no dogs, and no men there.
No cats, no dogs, and no men there.
But black shadows, grey shadows, green shadows come.
The wind says, “Miau!” and the rain says, “Hum!”
The wind says, “Miau!” and the rain says, “Hum!”
He goes straight home. He dreams all night.
He howls. He puts his wife in a fright.
He howls. He puts his wife in a fright.
Black devils, grey devils, green devils shine—
Yes, by Sambo,
And the fire looks fine!
Cat devils, dog devils, cow devils grin—
Yes, by Sambo,
And the fire rolls in.
Yes, by Sambo,
And the fire looks fine!
Cat devils, dog devils, cow devils grin—
98
And the fire rolls in.
And so, next day, to avoid the worst—
He takes that cow
Where he found her first.
He takes that cow
Where he found her first.
99
DAVY JONES' DOOR-BELL
A Chant for Boys with Manly Voices.
Every line sung one step deeper than the line preceding.
Every line sung one step deeper than the line preceding.
Any sky-bird sings,
“Ring, ring!”
Any church-chime calls,
“Dong ding!”
Any cannon says,
“Boom bang!”
Any whirlwind says,
“Whing whang!”
The bell-buoy hums and roars,
“Ding dong!”
And way down deep,
Where fishes throng,
By Davy Jones' big deep-sea door,
Shaking the ocean's flowery floor,
His door-bell booms
“Dong dong,
Dong dong,”
Deep, deep down,
100
Boom dong,
Boom dong,
Boom dong!”
107
THE SCIENTIFIC ASPIRATION
Would that the dry hot wind called Science came,Forerunner of a higher mystic day,
Though vile machine-made commerce clear the way—
Though nature losing shame should lose her veil,
And ghosts of buried angel-warriors wail
The fall of Heaven, and the relentless Sun
Smile on, as Abraham's God forever dies—
Lord, give us Darwin's eyes!
113
ANOTHER WORD ON THE SCIENTIFIC ASPIRATION
“There's machinery in the butterfly.
There's a mainspring to the bee.
There's hydraulics to a daisy
And contraptions to a tree.
There's a mainspring to the bee.
There's hydraulics to a daisy
And contraptions to a tree.
“If we could see the birdie
That makes the chirping sound
With psycho-analytic eyes,
And x ray, scientific eyes,
We could see the wheels go round.”
That makes the chirping sound
With psycho-analytic eyes,
And x ray, scientific eyes,
We could see the wheels go round.”
And I hope all men
Who think like this
Will soon lie
Underground.
Who think like this
Will soon lie
Underground.
116
COLD SUNBEAMS
The Question:
“Tell me, where do fairy queens
Find their bridal veils?”
“Tell me, where do fairy queens
Find their bridal veils?”
The Answer:
“If you were now a fairy queen
Then I, your faithless page and bold
Would win the realm by winning you.
Your veil would be transparent gold
White magic spiders wove for you
At cold grey dawn, from sunbeams cold
While robins sang amid the dew.”
“If you were now a fairy queen
Then I, your faithless page and bold
Would win the realm by winning you.
Your veil would be transparent gold
White magic spiders wove for you
At cold grey dawn, from sunbeams cold
While robins sang amid the dew.”
128
THE FIRE-LADDIE, LOVE
The door has a bolt.The window a grate.
O friend we are trapped
In the factory, Fate.
The flames pierce the ceiling.
The brands heap the floor.
But listen, dear heart:
A song at the door!
The forcing of bolts,
The hewing of oak!
A sword breaks the lock
With one cleaving stroke.
Naked and fair
Unscathed and wild
Behold he comes swiftly,
An elfin-eyed child.
The fire-laddie, Love,
Is our hero this night,
As he walks on the embers
His plumes are cloud white.
129
And snow of desire,
His step parts the veil
Of the factory fire.
Oh his chubby child hands,
Oh his long curls agleam,
From out their soft tossing
Comes thunder and dream.
Our fire-laddie, Love,
At the last moment here,
To bear us away
To a road without fear,
To the dark, to the wind,
To the mist, to the dawn,
Where the lilac blooms nod
By the rain renewed lawn.
To a land of deep knowledge
Our tired feet are led,
While the stars of new morning
Still glint overhead.
Sweet Love walks between us
With silences long.
His step is the music.
The day is the song.
137
THE FEVER CALLED WAR
Love and Kindness,
Two sad shadows
Over the old nations,
Bigger than the world,
Mists above a grave!
Two sad shadows
Over the old nations,
Bigger than the world,
Mists above a grave!
Says Love, the shadow
To Kindness the shadow:—
“I weep for the children
No miracle will save.
All the little children
Are down with the fever,
Thousands upon thousands,
Blind and deaf and mad.
Their fathers are all dead,
And the same raging fever
Is burning up the children,
The babes that once were glad.”
To Kindness the shadow:—
“I weep for the children
No miracle will save.
All the little children
Are down with the fever,
Thousands upon thousands,
Blind and deaf and mad.
Their fathers are all dead,
And the same raging fever
Is burning up the children,
The babes that once were glad.”
138
STANZAS IN JUST THE RIGHT TONE FOR THE SPIRITED GENTLEMEN WHO WOULD CONQUER MEXICO
Alexander
Would I might waken in you Alexander,Murdering the nations wickedly,
Flooding his time with blood remorselessly,
Sowing new Empires, where the Athenian light,
Knowledge and music, slay the Asian night,
And men behold Apollo in the sun.
God make us splendid, though by grievous wrong.
God make us fierce and strong.
Mohammed
Would that on horses swifter than desireWe rode behind Mohammed 'round the zones
With swords unceasing, sowing fields of bones,
Till New America, ancient Mizraim,
Cry: “Allah is the God of Abraham.”
God make our host relentless as the sun,
Each soul your spear, your banner and your slave,
God help us to be brave.
139
Napoleon
Would that the cold adventurous CorsicanWoke with new hope of glory, strong from sleep,
Instructed how to conquer and to keep
More justly, having dreamed awhile, yea crowned
With shining flowers, God-given; while the sound
Of singing continents, following the sun,
Calls freeborn men to guard Napoleon's throne
Who makes the eternal hopes of man his own.
140
THE MODEST JAZZ-BIRD
The Jazz-bird sings a barnyard song—
A cock-a-doodle bray,
A jingle-bells, a boiler works,
A he-man's roundelay.
A cock-a-doodle bray,
A jingle-bells, a boiler works,
A he-man's roundelay.
The eagle said, “My noisy son,
I send you out to fight!”
So the youngster spread his sunflower wings
And roared with all his might.
I send you out to fight!”
So the youngster spread his sunflower wings
And roared with all his might.
His headlight eyes went flashing
From Oregon to Maine;
And the land was dark with airships
In the darting Jazz-bird's train.
From Oregon to Maine;
And the land was dark with airships
In the darting Jazz-bird's train.
Crossing the howling ocean,
His bell-mouth shook the sky;
And the Yankees in the trenches
Gave back the hue and cry.
His bell-mouth shook the sky;
And the Yankees in the trenches
Gave back the hue and cry.
141
And Europe had not heard the like—
And Germany went down!
The fowl of steel with clashing claws
Tore off the Kaiser's crown.
And Germany went down!
The fowl of steel with clashing claws
Tore off the Kaiser's crown.
149
JUSTINIAN
(The Tory Reply)
Nay, let us have the marble peace of Rome,Recorded in the Code Justinian,
Till Pagan Justice shelters man from man.
Fanatics snarl like mongrel dogs; the code
Will build each custom like a Roman Road,
Direct as daylight, clear-eyed as the sun.
God grant all crazy world-disturbers cease.
God give us honest peace.
155
THE SPACIOUS DAYS OF ROOSEVELT
These were the spacious days of Roosevelt.
Would that among you chiefs like him arose
To win the wrath of our united foes,
To chain King Mammon in the donjon-keep,
To rouse our godly citizens that sleep
Till as one soul, we shout up to the sun
The battle-yell of freedom and the right—
“Lord, let good men unite.”
Would that among you chiefs like him arose
To win the wrath of our united foes,
To chain King Mammon in the donjon-keep,
To rouse our godly citizens that sleep
Till as one soul, we shout up to the sun
The battle-yell of freedom and the right—
“Lord, let good men unite.”
Nay, I would have you lonely and despised.
Statesmen whom only statesmen understand,
Artists whom only artists can command,
Sages whom all but sages scorn, whose fame
Dies down in lies, in synonyms for shame
With the best populace beneath the sun.
God give us tasks that martyrs can revere,
Still too much hated to be whispered here.
Statesmen whom only statesmen understand,
Artists whom only artists can command,
Sages whom all but sages scorn, whose fame
Dies down in lies, in synonyms for shame
With the best populace beneath the sun.
God give us tasks that martyrs can revere,
Still too much hated to be whispered here.
Would we might drink, with knowledge high and kind
The hemlock cup of Socrates the king,
Knowing right well we know not anything,
With full life done, bowing before the law,
Binding young thinkers' hearts with loyal awe,
And fealty fixed as the ever-enduring sun—
God let us live, seeking the highest light,
God help us die aright.
The hemlock cup of Socrates the king,
Knowing right well we know not anything,
156
Binding young thinkers' hearts with loyal awe,
And fealty fixed as the ever-enduring sun—
God let us live, seeking the highest light,
God help us die aright.
Nay, I would have you grand, and still forgotten,
Hid like the stars at noon, as he who set
The Egyptian magic of man's alphabet;
Or that far Coptic, first to dream in pain
That dauntless souls cannot by death be slain—
Conquering for all men then, the fearful grave.
God keep us hid, yet vaster far than death.
God help us to be brave.
Hid like the stars at noon, as he who set
The Egyptian magic of man's alphabet;
Or that far Coptic, first to dream in pain
That dauntless souls cannot by death be slain—
Conquering for all men then, the fearful grave.
God keep us hid, yet vaster far than death.
God help us to be brave.
163
A HOT TIME IN THE OLD TOWN
Guns salute, and crows and pigeons fly,
Bronzed, Homeric bards go striding by,
Shouting “Glory” amid the cannonade:—
It is the cross-roads
Resurrection
Parade.
Bronzed, Homeric bards go striding by,
Shouting “Glory” amid the cannonade:—
It is the cross-roads
Resurrection
Parade.
Actors, craftsmen, builders, join the throng,
Painters, sculptors, florists tramp along,
Farm-boys prance, in tinsel, tin and jade:—
It is the cross-roads
Love and Laughter
Crusade.
Painters, sculptors, florists tramp along,
Farm-boys prance, in tinsel, tin and jade:—
It is the cross-roads
Love and Laughter
Crusade.
The sun is blazing big as all the sky,
The mustard-plant with the sunflower climbing high,
With the Indian corn in fiery plumes arrayed:—
It is the cross-roads
Love and Beauty
Crusade.
The mustard-plant with the sunflower climbing high,
With the Indian corn in fiery plumes arrayed:—
It is the cross-roads
Love and Beauty
Crusade.
164
Free and proud and mellow jamboree,
Roar and foam upon the prairie sea,
Tom turkeys sing the sun a serenade:—
It is the cross-roads
Resurrection
Parade.
Roar and foam upon the prairie sea,
Tom turkeys sing the sun a serenade:—
It is the cross-roads
Resurrection
Parade.
Our sweethearts dance, with wands as white as milk,
With veils of gold and robes of silver silk,
Their caps in velvet pansy-patterns made:—
It is the cross-roads
Resurrection
Parade.
With veils of gold and robes of silver silk,
Their caps in velvet pansy-patterns made:—
It is the cross-roads
Resurrection
Parade.
Wandering 'round the shrines we understand,
Waving oak-boughs cheap and close at hand,
And field-flowers fair, for which no man has paid:—
It is the cross-roads
Love and Beauty
Crusade.
Waving oak-boughs cheap and close at hand,
And field-flowers fair, for which no man has paid:—
It is the cross-roads
Love and Beauty
Crusade.
Hieroglyphic marchers here we bring.
Rich inscriptions strut and talk and sing.
A scroll to read, a picture-word brigade:—
It is the cross-roads
Love and Laughter
Crusade.
Rich inscriptions strut and talk and sing.
A scroll to read, a picture-word brigade:—
It is the cross-roads
165
Crusade.
Swans for symbols deck the banners rare,
Mighty acorn-signs command the air,
For hearts of oak, by flying beauty swayed:—
It is the cross-roads
Resurrection
Parade.
Mighty acorn-signs command the air,
For hearts of oak, by flying beauty swayed:—
It is the cross-roads
Resurrection
Parade.
The flags are big, like rainbows flashing 'round,
They spread like sails, and lift us from the ground,
Star-born ships, that have come in masquerade:—
It is the cross-roads
Resurrection
Parade.
They spread like sails, and lift us from the ground,
Star-born ships, that have come in masquerade:—
It is the cross-roads
Resurrection
Parade.
| The golden whales of California and other rhymes in the American language | |