Short Poems

Too young to have known the meaning of sorrow,
in her spring dress she climbs the tower chamber.

New leaves on all the willows wound her;
She sent him off to war for nothing but a title.

Out of the womb of Mother Sin,
With stained and sensitive skin,
Is born the strong solitary soul
Who is master of power and of control.
Fearlessness did him beget;
Nor let the moralist forget,
The child of Sin and Courage well may be
Nobler than any child of timid Purity.

This is Mister Beers;
And for forty-seven years
He's been digging in his garden like a miner.
He isn't planting seeds
Nor scratching up weeds,
He's trying to bore a tunnel down to China.

'Tis July, and on every side
Nothing but rivers of hot water.

Kupris, hither
Come, and pour from goblets of gold the nectar
Mixt for love's and pleasure's delight with dainty
Joys of the banquet.

Shall we make love
Indoors
On this night when the moon has begun to shine
Over the rushes
Of Inami Moor?

This way, this way come, and hear,
You that hold these pleasures dear,
Fill your ears with our sweet sound,
Whilst we melt the frozen ground.
This way come; make haste, oh, fair,
Let your clear eyes gild the air;
Come, and bless us with your sight,
This way, this way, seek delight.

For at midnight brake forth a Light,
——which turn'd the night to day,
And speedily an hideous cry
——did all the world dismay.
Sinners awake, their hearts do ake,
——trembling their loynes surprizeth;
Amaz'd with fear, by what they hear,
——each one of them ariseth.

III 3

Through Gripus Grounds let rich Pactolus roll,
No golden Sands can satisfy his Soul;
Though Chains of Pearl bow down his pensive Head,
Though a whole Hecatomb his Acres tread,
No wealth his life from weary care can save,
No care his wealth can carry to the grave.

Not many years but long enough to see
No fo[e] can deal such deadly misery
As the dear friend untimely called away
And still the more beloved, the greater still
Must be the aching void the withering chill
Of each dark night and dim beclouded day