English

The sun, emerging from the lucid waves,
Ascended now the brazen vault with light
For the inhabitants of earth and heav'n,
When in their bark at Pylus they arrived,
City of Neleus. On the shore they found
The people sacrificing; bulls they slew
Black without spot, to Neptune azure-hair'd.
On ranges nine of seats they sat; each range
Received five hundred, and to each they made
Allotment equal of nine sable bulls.
The feast was now begun; these eating sat
The entrails, those stood off'ring to the God

Aurora , rosy daughter of the dawn,
Now ting'd the East, when habited again,
Uprose Ulysses' offspring from his bed.
Athwart his back his faulchion keen he flung,
His sandals bound to his unsullied feet,
And, godlike, issued from his chamber-door.
At once the clear-voic'd heralds he enjoin'd
To call the Greeks to council; they aloud
Gave forth the summons, and the throng began.
When all were gather'd, and the assembly full,
Himself, his hand arm'd with a brazen spear,
Went also; nor alone he went; his hounds

I.

Man has forgot his Origin; in vain
He searches for the record of his race
In ancient books, or seeks with toil to gain
From the deep cave, or rocks some primal trace.
And some have fancied, from a higher sphere,
Forgetful of his origin he came;
To dwell awhile a wandering exile here
Subject to sense, another, yet the same.
With mind bewildered, weak how should he know
The Source Divine from whom his being springs?
The darkened spirit does its shadow throw

All the many blooms could not open at once.
Aoi Flower, swiftly hit by a jealous wind, was destroyed.
In crimson chambers many were the dreams of spring nights.
I love Cicada Shell for slipping out like a cicada.

Lord, when will it be?
Will it be long before Your visit?
I crouch on the opprobrious floor, waiting, while before me
Are pictures of angels with wings, and of saints;
At the center of the wall adorned with holy words of gold and silver,
A holy hole — Your shining visitation through it,
Is it not yet time for it?
O then, I would kneel before You,
Madly open my lips parched and cracked from thirst,
And as that terrifying prophet said,
Fill my mouth with You.
Inside my mouth You would quickly grow large,

Will they gape for the husks that ye proffer
Or yearn to your song?
And we — have we nothing to offer
Who ruled them so long —
In the fume of the incense, the clash of the cymbals, the blare of the conch and the gong?

Over the strife of the schools

Your patience, Sirs. The Devil took me up
To the burned mountain over Sicily
(Fit place for me) and thence I saw my Earth —
(Not all Earth's splendour, 'twas beyond my need — )
And that one spot I love — all Earth to me,
And her I love, my Heaven. What said I?
My love was safe from all the powers of Hell —
For you — e'en you — acquit her of my guilt —
But Sula, nestling by our sail-specked sea,
My city, child of mine, my heart, my home —
Mine and my pride — evil might visit there!
It was for Sula and her naked port,

THE NAULAHKA

There was a strife 'twixt man and maid —
Oh, that was at the birth of time!
But what befell 'twixt man and maid,
Oh, that's beyond the grip of rhyme.
'Twas, " Sweet, I must not bide with you, "
And, " Love, I cannot bide alone " ;
For both were young and both were true,
And both were hard as the nether stone.

The sky is lead, and our faces are red,
And the Gates of Hell are opened and riven,
And the winds of Hell are loosened and driven,
And the dust flies up in the face of Heaven,
And the clouds come down in a fiery sheet,
Heavy to raise and hard to be borne.
And the soul of man is turned from his meat,
Turned from the trifles for which he has striven,
Sick in his body and heavy-hearted,

The Earth gave up her dead that tide,
Into our camp he came,
And said his say and went his way,
And left our hearts aflame.

Keep tally — on the gun-butt score
The vengeance we must take
When God shall bring full reckoning
For our dead comrade's sake!
The Man Who Was .