English

III

" Dear Welfare,
this is
my eighth
child

What are you
going to do
about it? "
You will hear
in due time
from Oceanus!

II

" Gentlemen,
in answer
to your letter
I have
given birth
to a ten
pound boy.

I hope
this is
satis-
factory "

Zeus himself
couldn't have
done better!

I

" To whom
it may concern:
I have no
children yet
as my husband
is a truck driver
and works
day and night. "

We understand!

From a minor
branch
of the Oceanids,

notes
to The Welfare

III

Thus long we liv'd from Youth together bred,
And at one Table constantly were fed:
'Till on a fatal inauspicious Day,
As in the Sun's bright Beams she basking lay,
Her beauteous Eyes she rowl'd about in vain,
And scarcely could endure the Light for Pain:
An Atrophy her lov'ly Form invades,

Ah wretched Maid! now give a Loose to Grief.
Nor Art, nor Invocation use;
Thy fatal Loss admits of no Relief,
And does all fruitless Aid refuse.
She, whom thou late esteem'd'st so dear,
By Syrius now is Slain:
For long in his celestial Sphere,
The spiteful Star had envied her,
And shed his Rays in vain:
'Till mad with Shame, and Rage to find
His Lustre by her Eyes out-shin'd,
He shot a baleful Influence,
And snatch'd his beauteous Rival hence.
Begin, oh Muse! this mournful Scene disclose,

Nine times the sun his yearly course had run,
And twice nine moons with changing lustre shone,
Since Jill's first breath and love to me begun.
Fine was her mien, and most exact her form,
Black sparkling eyes her lovely face adorned;
Two stately dewlaps dangled o'er her breast
(Th' hereditary ensigns of her race);
Unspotted whiteness covered all the rest,
And when she barked, 'twas with majestic grace.
But oh! what fit expressions can I find
To show the beauties of her fairer mind!
So fond! so faithful! sensible and true,

I FLED Him, down the nights and down the days;
I fled Him, down the arches of the years;
I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways
Of my own mind; and in the mist of tears
I hid from Him, and under running laughter.
Up vistaed hopes I sped;
And shot, precipitated,
Adown Titanic glooms of chasmed fears,
From those strong Feet that followed, followed after.
But with unhurrying chase,
And unperturbed pace,
Deliberate speed, majestic instancy,

We cannot retrace our steps, going forward may be the same as going backwards. We cannot retrace our steps, retrace our steps. All my long life, all my life, we do not retrace our steps, all my long life, but
(A silence a long silence) But — we do not retrace our steps, all my long life, and here, here we are here, in marble and gold, did I say gold, yes I said gold, in marble and gold and where —

(A silence) Where is where. In my long life of effort and strife, dear life, life is strife, in my long life, it will not come and go, I tell you so, it will stay it will pay but

I

The man stood silent, peering past
His utmost verge of memory.
What lay beyond, beyond that vast
Bewildering darkness and dead sea
Of noisome vapors and dread night?
No light! not any sense of light
Beyond that life when Love was born
On that first, far, dim rim of morn:
No light beyond that beast that clung
In darkness by the light of love
And died to save her young.
And yet we know life must have been
Before that dark, dread life of pain;