 | Fleet Street Eclogues |  |
17
ST VALENTINE'S EVE
MENZIES PERCYPercy
A-moping always, journalist? For shame!
Though this be Lent no journalist need mope:
The blazing Candlemas was foul and wet;
We shall be happy yet:
Sweethearts and crocuses together ope.
Though this be Lent no journalist need mope:
The blazing Candlemas was foul and wet;
We shall be happy yet:
Sweethearts and crocuses together ope.
Menzies
Assail, console me not in jest or trope:
Give me your golden silence; or if speech
Must wake a ripple on the stagnant gloom
Of this lamp-darkened room,
Speak blasphemy, and let the mandrake screech.
Must wake a ripple on the stagnant gloom
Of this lamp-darkened room,
Speak blasphemy, and let the mandrake screech.
18
Percy
Dread words—'tis Ercles' vein—and fit to teach
The mandrake's self new ecstasies of woe,
Have passed my lips in blame of God and man.
Now surely nothing can
Constrain my soul serene to riot so.
Have passed my lips in blame of God and man.
Now surely nothing can
Constrain my soul serene to riot so.
Menzies
But you are old; the tide of life is low;
No wind can raise a tempest in a cup:
Easy it is for withered nerves and veins,
Parched hearts and barren brains
To be serene and give life's question up.
Easy it is for withered nerves and veins,
Parched hearts and barren brains
To be serene and give life's question up.
Percy
Although no longer chamber-doors I dup
For willing maids (that never conquered me);
Though unimpassioned be my tranquil mind,
And all my force declined,
My quenchless soul confronts its destiny.—
But tell me now what ghastly misery
Though unimpassioned be my tranquil mind,
And all my force declined,
19
But tell me now what ghastly misery
Peeps from the shadowy cupboard of your eye?
This chastened month in white and gold is dressed,
Lilies and snowdrops blessed:
Be shriven by me as you were now to die;
Shrove-tide is come.
This chastened month in white and gold is dressed,
Lilies and snowdrops blessed:
Be shriven by me as you were now to die;
Shrove-tide is come.
Menzies
Confessions purify.
My skeletons I will uncupboard straight;
And if you think me pitiful and weak,
I pray you do not speak,
But go and leave me lonely with my fate.—
My daily toil has irked me much of late:
And if you think me pitiful and weak,
I pray you do not speak,
But go and leave me lonely with my fate.—
My daily toil has irked me much of late:
Of books that never will be read I write
What, save the anxious authors, no one reads,
And chronicle the deeds
Of Fashion, Crime, and Council, day and night.
Once in a quarter when my heart is light
What, save the anxious authors, no one reads,
And chronicle the deeds
20
Once in a quarter when my heart is light
I write a poem in a weekly sheet,
To lie in clubs on tables crowned with baize,
Immortal for seven days:
This is the life my echoing years repeat.
To lie in clubs on tables crowned with baize,
Immortal for seven days:
This is the life my echoing years repeat.
Percy
The very round my aged steps still beat!
Menzies
And brooding thus on my ephemeral flowers
That smoulder in the wilderness, I thought,
By envy sore distraught,
Of amaranths that burn in lordly bowers,
Of men divinely blessed with leisured hours,
That smoulder in the wilderness, I thought,
By envy sore distraught,
Of amaranths that burn in lordly bowers,
Of men divinely blessed with leisured hours,
And all the savage in my blood was roused.
I cursed the father who begot me poor,
The patient womb that bore
Me, last of ten, ill-fed, ill-clad, ill-housed;
I cursed the barren common where I browsed
I cursed the father who begot me poor,
The patient womb that bore
21
I cursed the barren common where I browsed
And sickened on the arid mental fare
The state has sown broad-cast; I cursed the strain
Whence sprang my blood and brain
Frugal and dry; I cursed myself the heir
Of dreadful things that met me everywhere:
The state has sown broad-cast; I cursed the strain
Whence sprang my blood and brain
Frugal and dry; I cursed myself the heir
Of dreadful things that met me everywhere:
Of uncouth nauseous vennels, smoky skies;
A chill and watery clime; a thrifty race,
Using all means of grace
To save their souls and purses; lingering lies,
Remnants of creeds and tags of party cries—
A chill and watery clime; a thrifty race,
Using all means of grace
To save their souls and purses; lingering lies,
Remnants of creeds and tags of party cries—
Scarecrows and rattles; then I cursed this flesh,
Which must be daily served with meat and drink,
Which will not let me think,
But holds me prisoner in the sexual mesh;
I cursed all being, and began afresh—
Which must be daily served with meat and drink,
Which will not let me think,
But holds me prisoner in the sexual mesh;
I cursed all being, and began afresh—
22
My education and my geniture,
Which keep me running always from the goal,
Or stranded on Time's shoal—
In naked speech, a sixpenny reviewer,
A hungry parasite of literature.
Which keep me running always from the goal,
Or stranded on Time's shoal—
In naked speech, a sixpenny reviewer,
A hungry parasite of literature.
Percy
No reasoning can meet so fierce a mood.
I'll tell you of a journalist instead,
These many winters dead,
Who out of evil could distil the good.
He found his lot untameable and rude,
I'll tell you of a journalist instead,
These many winters dead,
Who out of evil could distil the good.
He found his lot untameable and rude,
And sometimes ate what beggars had disdained
Left at the donor's door. Once on a time
A wanton youthful rhyme
I read him with my tears and heart's blood stained,
Wherein of Fate I bitterly complained.
Left at the donor's door. Once on a time
A wanton youthful rhyme
I read him with my tears and heart's blood stained,
Wherein of Fate I bitterly complained.
He praised my rhymes; then said, ‘The Poet's name
Is overhallowed; and the Statesman's praise
Unearned; unearned the bays
That crown the Warrior; Beauty, Art, I blame,
For Love alone deserves the meed of fame.’
23
Unearned; unearned the bays
That crown the Warrior; Beauty, Art, I blame,
For Love alone deserves the meed of fame.’
Menzies
I understand you not.
Percy
Be still and mark.
‘And so,’ he said, `though I am faint and old,
High in my garret cold—
While on the pane Death's knuckles rattle stark,
And hungry pangs keep sleep off—in the dark,
‘And so,’ he said, `though I am faint and old,
High in my garret cold—
While on the pane Death's knuckles rattle stark,
And hungry pangs keep sleep off—in the dark,
‘I think how brides and bridegrooms, many a pair,
With human sanction, or all unavouched,
Together softly couched,
Wonder and throb in rapture; how the care
Of ways and means, the thought of whitening hair,
With human sanction, or all unavouched,
Together softly couched,
Wonder and throb in rapture; how the care
Of ways and means, the thought of whitening hair,
24
‘Of trenchant wrinkles fade when night has set,
And many a long-wed man and woman find
The deepest peace of mind,
Sweet and mysterious to each other yet.
I think that I am still in Nature's debt,
And many a long-wed man and woman find
The deepest peace of mind,
Sweet and mysterious to each other yet.
I think that I am still in Nature's debt,
‘Scorned, disappointed, starving, bankrupt, old,
Because I loved a lady in my youth,
And was beloved in sooth.
I think that all the horrors ever told
Of tonsured men and women sable-stoled,
Because I loved a lady in my youth,
And was beloved in sooth.
I think that all the horrors ever told
Of tonsured men and women sable-stoled,
‘Of long-drawn tortures wrought with subtle zest,
Of war and massacre and martyrdom,
Of slaves in Pagan Rome—
In Christian England, who begin to test
The purpose of their state, to strike for rest
Of war and massacre and martyrdom,
Of slaves in Pagan Rome—
In Christian England, who begin to test
The purpose of their state, to strike for rest
‘And time to feel alive in: all the blight
Of pain, age, madness, ravished innocence,
Despair and impotence,
The lofty anguish that affronts the light,
And seems to fill the past with utter night,
Of pain, age, madness, ravished innocence,
Despair and impotence,
25
And seems to fill the past with utter night,
‘Is but Love's needful shadow: though the poles,
The spangled zodiac, and the stars that beat
In heaven's high Watling Street
Their myriad rounds; though every orb that rolls
Lighting or lit, were filled with tortured souls,
The spangled zodiac, and the stars that beat
In heaven's high Watling Street
Their myriad rounds; though every orb that rolls
Lighting or lit, were filled with tortured souls,
‘If one man and one woman, heart and brain
Entranced above all fear, above all doubt,
Might wring their essence out,
The groaning of a universe in pain
Were as an undersong in Love's refrain.
Entranced above all fear, above all doubt,
Might wring their essence out,
The groaning of a universe in pain
Were as an undersong in Love's refrain.
‘Then in a vision holy Time I see
As one sweet bridal night, Earth softly spread
One fragrant bridal bed,
And all my unrest leaves me utterly:
I sometimes feel almost that God may be.’
As one sweet bridal night, Earth softly spread
One fragrant bridal bed,
And all my unrest leaves me utterly:
I sometimes feel almost that God may be.’
26
Menzies
You touch me not. I, stretched upon the rack
Of consciousness, still curse. Woman and love?
I would be throned above
Humanity. Yet were I God, alack!
I think that I should want my manhood back,
Of consciousness, still curse. Woman and love?
I would be throned above
Humanity. Yet were I God, alack!
I think that I should want my manhood back,
Hating and loving limits—
Percy
Ah! I know
How ill you are. You shall to-morrow do
What I now order you.
At early dawn through London you must go
Until you come where long black hedgerows grow,
How ill you are. You shall to-morrow do
What I now order you.
At early dawn through London you must go
Until you come where long black hedgerows grow,
With pink buds pearled, with here and there a tree,
And gates and stiles; and watch good country folk;
And scent the spicy smoke
Of withered weeds that burn where gardens be;
And in a ditch perhaps a primrose see.
And gates and stiles; and watch good country folk;
And scent the spicy smoke
Of withered weeds that burn where gardens be;
And in a ditch perhaps a primrose see.
27
The rooks shall stalk the plough, larks mount the skies,
Blackbirds and speckled thrushes sing aloud,
Hid in the warm white cloud
Mantling the thorn, and far away shall rise
The milky low of cows and farmyard cries.
Blackbirds and speckled thrushes sing aloud,
Hid in the warm white cloud
Mantling the thorn, and far away shall rise
The milky low of cows and farmyard cries.
From windy heavens the climbing sun shall shine,
And February greet you like a maid
In russet-cloak arrayed;
And you shall take her for your mistress fine,
And pluck a crocus for her valentine.
And February greet you like a maid
In russet-cloak arrayed;
And you shall take her for your mistress fine,
And pluck a crocus for her valentine.
Menzies
In russet-cloak arrayed with homespun smock
And apple cheeks.
And apple cheeks.
Percy
I pray you do not mock.
Menzies
I mock not, I shall see earth and be glad:
London's a darksome cell where men go mad.
London's a darksome cell where men go mad.
| Fleet Street Eclogues | |