The House Of Dust - Part Ii - Complete Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BCBC BBDB BEFE GBEB HBBB IJAJ C KLMBEBNAOPQR JSTBUBF BNVWXBYOFOP BZBBBAQONBBUQ XA2BBB2C2TBD2BAGBIE2 F2BBBBG2H2BI2MFBS J2 BBK2XBBL2L2M2IIM2XXO N2N2 JBJMMC2C2AO2AUA L FP2GP2Q2IR2 US2BUB BBT2B T2T2U2T2U2 V2W2B EX2UX2 Y2Y2P2JJ BEZ2EZ2 BJT2J A3 BBEDB B3UBUFB FMC3BBC3K2XRR CBBD3FB B3E3BE3 F3F3EEB B TBG3TXUA2I2TULFFC2BG IB3Y2 BE3H3EGXH2I3BDBJ3UK3 I FEAD L3XO BBYFBU2 C2FFM3 XUYB3BLFTI B GEBN3BO3BIII IBC2C2IIFY2FY2T2III B3B3 OBFBOOP3IIII IQ3IQ3 IN3IFI R3K2K2MMFP2S3T3T3 U3U2IM L3IGI L3L3III I U2OC2FV3IQV3BE2P2C2B QMY2IU2G3FIFBY2IIIBQ BV2W3X3YQK2Y3IIFIMIM IL3EIZ3T2A4MB4C4FIIB DV2BXIIB J2 IIBFB BD4FD4 FBJFJ GRIR IFGF JNQN N GFGF IIE4IY2H2Y2 IC2F4V2C2 EJJ IIMFM JJFIMF L3IG4IG4 UV2E4L3E4FH4I4H4 MIII DMBM END UYFYIY YIFI IYFYYIII B IYIYYY P2P2IIIIXK2IB3I FYIB3III FFIF FNEN BCCFC YUP2IP2I | A |
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The round red sun heaves darkly out of the sea | B |
The walls and towers are warmed and gleam | C |
Sounds go drowsily up from streets and wharves | B |
The city stirs like one that is half in dream | C |
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And the mist flows up by dazzling walls and windows | B |
Where one by one we wake and rise | B |
We gaze at the pale grey lustrous sea a moment | D |
We rub the darkness from our eyes | B |
- | |
And face our thousand devious secret mornings | B |
And do not see how the pale mist slowly ascending | E |
Shaped by the sun shines like a white robed dreamer | F |
Compassionate over our towers bending | E |
- | |
There like one who gazes into a crystal | G |
He broods upon our city with sombre eyes | B |
He sees our secret fears vaguely unfolding | E |
Sees cloudy symbols shape to rise | B |
- | |
Each gleaming point of light is like a seed | H |
Dilating swiftly to coiling fires | B |
Each cloud becomes a rapidly dimming face | B |
Each hurrying face records its strange desires | B |
- | |
We descend our separate stairs toward the day | I |
Merge in the somnolent mass that fills the street | J |
Lift our eyes to the soft blue space of sky | A |
And walk by the well known walls with accustomed feet | J |
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II THE FULFILLED DREAM | C |
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More towers must yet be built more towers destroyed | K |
Great rocks hoisted in air | L |
And he must seek his bread in high pale sunlight | M |
With gulls about him and clouds just over his eyes | B |
And so he did not mention his dream of falling | E |
But drank his coffee in silence and heard in his ears | B |
That horrible whistle of wind and felt his breath | N |
Sucked out of him and saw the tower flash by | A |
And the small tree swell beneath him | O |
He patted his boy on the head and kissed his wife | P |
Looked quickly around the room to remember it | Q |
And so went out For once he forgot his pail | R |
- | |
Something had changed but it was not the street | J |
The street was just the same it was himself | S |
Puddles flashed in the sun In the pawn shop door | T |
The same old black cat winked green amber eyes | B |
The butcher stood by his window tying his apron | U |
The same men walked beside him smoking pipes | B |
Reading the morning paper | F |
- | |
He would not yield he thought and walk more slowly | B |
As if he knew for certain he walked to death | N |
But with his usual pace deliberate firm | V |
Looking about him calmly watching the world | W |
Taking his ease Yet when he thought again | X |
Of the same dream now dreamed three separate times | B |
Always the same and heard that whistling wind | Y |
And saw the windows flashing upward past him | O |
He slowed his pace a little and thought with horror | F |
How monstrously that small tree thrust to meet him | O |
He slowed his pace a little and remembered his wife | P |
- | |
Was forty then too old for work like this | B |
Why should it be He'd never been afraid | Z |
His eye was sure his hand was steady | B |
But dreams had meanings | B |
He walked more slowly and looked along the roofs | B |
All built by men and saw the pale blue sky | A |
And suddenly he was dizzy with looking at it | Q |
It seemed to whirl and swim | O |
It seemed the color of terror of speed of death | N |
He lowered his eyes to the stones he walked more slowly | B |
His thoughts were blown and scattered like leaves | B |
He thought of the pail Why then was it forgotten | U |
Because he would not need it | Q |
- | |
Then just as he was grouping his thoughts again | X |
About that drug store corner under an arc lamp | A2 |
Where first he met the girl whom he would marry | B |
That blue eyed innocent girl in a soft blouse | B |
He waved his hand for signal and up he went | B2 |
In the dusty chute that hugged the wall | C2 |
Above the tree from girdered floor to floor | T |
Above the flattening roofs until the sea | B |
Lay wide and waved before him And then he stepped | D2 |
Giddily out from that security | B |
To the red rib of iron against the sky | A |
And walked along it feeling it sing and tremble | G |
And looking down one instant saw the tree | B |
Just as he dreamed it was and looked away | I |
And up again feeling his blood go wild | E2 |
- | |
He gave the signal the long girder swung | F2 |
Closer to him dropped clanging into place | B |
Almost pushing him off Pneumatic hammers | B |
Began their madhouse clatter the white hot rivets | B |
Were tossed from below and deftly caught in pails | B |
He signalled again and wiped his mouth and thought | G2 |
A place so high in the air should be more quiet | H2 |
The tree far down below teased at his eyes | B |
Teased at the corners of them until he looked | I2 |
And felt his body go suddenly small and light | M |
Felt his brain float off like a dwindling vapor | F |
And heard a whistle of wind and saw a tree | B |
Come plunging up to him and thought to himself | S |
'By God I'm done for now the dream was right ' | - |
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III INTERLUDE | J2 |
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The warm sun dreams in the dust the warm sun falls | B |
On bright red roofs and walls | B |
The trees in the park exhale a ghost of rain | K2 |
We go from door to door in the streets again | X |
Talking laughing dreaming turning our faces | B |
Recalling other times and places | B |
We crowd not knowing why around a gate | L2 |
We crowd together and wait | L2 |
A stretcher is carried out voices are stilled | M2 |
The ambulance drives away | I |
We watch its roof flash by hear someone say | I |
'A man fell off the building and was killed | M2 |
Fell right into a barrel ' We turn again | X |
Among the frightened eyes of white faced men | X |
And go our separate ways each bearing with him | O |
A thing he tries but vainly to forget | N2 |
A sickened crowd a stretcher red and wet | N2 |
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A hurdy gurdy sings in the crowded street | J |
The golden notes skip over the sunlit stones | B |
Wings are upon our feet | J |
The sun seems warmer the winding street more bright | M |
Sparrows come whirring down in a cloud of light | M |
We bear our dreams among us bear them all | C2 |
Like hurdy gurdy music they rise and fall | C2 |
Climb to beauty and die | A |
The wandering lover dreams of his lover's mouth | O2 |
And smiles at the hostile sky | A |
The broker smokes his pipe and sees a fortune | U |
The murderer hears a cry | A |
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IV NIGHTMARE | L |
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'Draw three cards and I will tell your future | F |
Draw three cards and lay them down | P2 |
Rest your palms upon them stare at the crystal | G |
And think of time My father was a clown | P2 |
My mother was a gypsy out of Egypt | Q2 |
And she was gotten with child in a strange way | I |
And I was born in a cold eclipse of the moon | R2 |
With the future in my eyes as clear as day ' | - |
- | |
I sit before the gold embroidered curtain | U |
And think her face is like a wrinkled desert | S2 |
The crystal burns in lamplight beneath my eyes | B |
A dragon slowly coils on the scaly curtain | U |
Upon a scarlet cloth a white skull lies | B |
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'Your hand is on the hand that holds three lilies | B |
You will live long love many times | B |
I see a dark girl here who once betrayed you | T2 |
I see a shadow of secret crimes | B |
- | |
'There was a man who came intent to kill you | T2 |
And hid behind a door and waited for you | T2 |
There was a woman who smiled at you and lied | U2 |
There was a golden girl who loved you begged you | T2 |
Crawled after you and died | U2 |
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'There is a ghost of murder in your blood | V2 |
Coming or past I know not which | W2 |
And here is danger a woman with sea green eyes | B |
And white skinned as a witch ' | - |
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The words hiss into me like raindrops falling | E |
On sleepy fire She smiles a meaning smile | X2 |
Suspicion eats my brain I ask a question | U |
Something is creeping at me something vile | X2 |
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And suddenly on the wall behind her head | Y2 |
I see a monstrous shadow strike and spread | Y2 |
The lamp puffs out a great blow crashes down | P2 |
I plunge through the curtain run through dark to the street | J |
And hear swift steps retreat | J |
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The shades are drawn the door is locked behind me | B |
Behind the door I hear a hammer sounding | E |
I walk in a cloud of wonder I am glad | Z2 |
I mingle among the crowds my heart is pounding | E |
You do not guess the adventure I have had | Z2 |
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Yet you too all have had your dark adventures | B |
Your sudden adventures or strange or sweet | J |
My peril goes out from me is blown among you | T2 |
We loiter dreaming together along the street | J |
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V RETROSPECT | A3 |
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Round white clouds roll slowly above the housetops | B |
Over the clear red roofs they flow and pass | B |
A flock of pigeons rises with blue wings flashing | E |
Rises with whistle of wings hovers an instant | D |
And settles slowly again on the tarnished grass | B |
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And one old man looks down from a dusty window | B3 |
And sees the pigeons circling about the fountain | U |
And desires once more to walk among those trees | B |
Lovers walk in the noontime by that fountain | U |
Pigeons dip their beaks to drink from the water | F |
And soon the pond must freeze | B |
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The light wind blows to his ears a sound of laughter | F |
Young men shuffle their feet loaf in the sunlight | M |
A girl's laugh rings like a silver bell | C3 |
But clearer than all these sounds is a sound he hears | B |
More in his secret heart than in his ears | B |
A hammer's steady crescendo like a knell | C3 |
He hears the snarl of pineboards under the plane | K2 |
The rhythmic saw and then the hammer again | X |
Playing with delicate strokes that sombre scale | R |
And the fountain dwindles the sunlight seems to pale | R |
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Time is a dream he thinks a destroying dream | C |
It lays great cities in dust it fills the seas | B |
It covers the face of beauty and tumbles walls | B |
Where was the woman he loved Where was his youth | D3 |
Where was the dream that burned his brain like fire | F |
Even a dream grows grey at last and falls | B |
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He opened his book once more beside the window | B3 |
And read the printed words upon that page | E3 |
The sunlight touched his hand his eyes moved slowly | B |
The quiet words enchanted time and age | E3 |
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'Death is never an ending death is a change | F3 |
Death is beautiful for death is strange | F3 |
Death is one dream out of another flowing | E |
Death is a chorded music softly going | E |
By sweet transition from key to richer key | B |
Death is a meeting place of sea and sea ' | - |
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VI ADELE AND DAVIS | B |
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She turned her head on the pillow and cried once more | T |
And drawing a shaken breath and closing her eyes | B |
To shut out if she could this dingy room | G3 |
The wigs and costumes scattered around the floor | T |
Yellows and greens in the dark she walked again | X |
Those nightmare streets which she had walked so often | U |
Here at a certain corner under an arc lamp | A2 |
Blown by a bitter wind she stopped and looked | I2 |
In through the brilliant windows of a drug store | T |
And wondered if she dared to ask for poison | U |
But it was late few customers were there | L |
The eyes of all the clerks would freeze upon her | F |
And she would wilt and cry Here by the river | F |
She listened to the water slapping the wall | C2 |
And felt queer fascination in its blackness | B |
But it was cold the little waves looked cruel | G |
The stars were keen and a windy dash of spray | I |
Struck her cheek and withered her veins And so | B3 |
She dragged herself once more to home and bed | Y2 |
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Paul hadn't guessed it yet though twice already | B |
She'd fainted once the first time on the stage | E3 |
So she must tell him soon or else get out | H3 |
How could she say it That was the hideous thing | E |
She'd rather die than say it and all the trouble | G |
Months when she couldn't earn a cent and then | X |
If he refused to marry her well what | H2 |
She saw him laughing making a foolish joke | I3 |
His grey eyes turning quickly and the words | B |
Fled from her tongue She saw him sitting silent | D |
Brooding over his morning coffee maybe | B |
And tried again she bit her lips and trembled | J3 |
And looked away and said 'Say Paul boy listen | U |
There's something I must tell you ' There she stopped | K3 |
Wondering what he'd say What would he say | I |
'Spring it kid Don't look so serious ' | - |
'But what I've got to say IS serious ' | - |
Then she could see how suddenly he would sober | F |
His eyes would darken he'd look so terrifying | E |
He always did and what could she do but cry | A |
Perhaps then he would guess perhaps he wouldn't | D |
And if he didn't but asked her 'What's the matter ' | - |
She knew she'd never tell just say she was sick | L3 |
And after that when would she dare again | X |
And what would he do even suppose she told him | O |
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If it were Felix If it were only Felix | B |
She wouldn't mind so much But as it was | B |
Bitterness choked her she had half a mind | Y |
To pay out Felix for never having liked her | F |
By making people think that it was he | B |
She'd write a letter to someone before she died | U2 |
Just saying 'Felix did it and wouldn't marry ' | - |
And then she'd die But that was hard on Paul | C2 |
Paul would never forgive her he'd never forgive her | F |
Sometimes she almost thought Paul really loved her | F |
She saw him look reproachfully at her coffin | M3 |
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And then she closed her eyes and walked again | X |
Those nightmare streets that she had walked so often | U |
Under an arc lamp swinging in the wind | Y |
She stood and stared in through a drug store window | B3 |
Watching a clerk wrap up a little pill box | B |
But it was late No customers were there | L |
Pitiless eyes would freeze her secret in her | F |
And then what poison would she dare to ask for | T |
And if they asked her why what would she say | I |
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VII TWO LOVERS OVERTONES | B |
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Two lovers here at the corner by the steeple | G |
Two lovers blow together like music blowing | E |
And the crowd dissolves about them like a sea | B |
Recurring waves of sound break vaguely about them | N3 |
They drift from wall to wall from tree to tree | B |
'Well am I late ' Upward they look and laugh | O3 |
They look at the great clock's golden hands | B |
They laugh and talk not knowing what they say | I |
Only their words like music seem to play | I |
And seeming to walk they tread strange sarabands | I |
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'I brought you this ' the soft words float like stars | I |
Down the smooth heaven of her memory | B |
She stands again by a garden wall | C2 |
The peach tree is in bloom pink blossoms fall | C2 |
Water sings from an opened tap the bees | I |
Glisten and murmur among the trees | I |
Someone calls from the house She does not answer | F |
Backward she leans her head | Y2 |
And dreamily smiles at the peach tree leaves wherethrough | F |
She sees an infinite May sky spread | Y2 |
A vault profoundly blue | T2 |
The voice from the house fades far away | I |
The glistening leaves more vaguely ripple and sway | I |
The tap is closed the water ceases to hiss | I |
Silence blue sky and then 'I brought you this ' | - |
She turns again and smiles He does not know | B3 |
She smiles from long ago | B3 |
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She turns to him and smiles Sunlight above him | O |
Roars like a vast invisible sea | B |
Gold is beaten before him shrill bells of silver | F |
He is released of weight his body is free | B |
He lifts his arms to swim | O |
Dark years like sinister tides coil under him | O |
The lazy sea waves crumble along the beach | P3 |
With a whirring sound like wind in bells | I |
He lies outstretched on the yellow wind worn sands | I |
Reaching his lazy hands | I |
Among the golden grains and sea white shells | I |
- | |
'One white rose or is it pink to day ' | - |
They pause and smile not caring what they say | I |
If only they may talk | Q3 |
The crowd flows past them like dividing waters | I |
Dreaming they stand dreaming they walk | Q3 |
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'Pink to day ' Face turns to dream bright face | I |
Green leaves rise round them sunshine settles upon them | N3 |
Water in drops of silver falls from the rose | I |
She smiles at a face that smiles through leaves from the mirror | F |
She breathes the fragrance her dark eyes close | I |
- | |
Time is dissolved it blows like a little dust | R3 |
Time like a flurry of rain | K2 |
Patters and passes starring the window pane | K2 |
Once long ago one night | M |
She saw the lightning with long blue quiver of light | M |
Ripping the darkness and as she turned in terror | F |
A soft face leaned above her leaned softly down | P2 |
Softly around her a breath of roses was blown | S3 |
She sank in waves of quiet she seemed to float | T3 |
In a sea of silence and soft steps grew remote | T3 |
- | |
'Well let us walk in the park The sun is warm | U3 |
We'll sit on a bench and talk ' They turn and glide | U2 |
The crowd of faces wavers and breaks and flows | I |
'Look how the oak tops turn to gold in the sunlight | M |
Look how the tower is changed and glows ' | - |
- | |
Two lovers move in the crowd like a link of music | L3 |
We press upon them we hold them and let them pass | I |
A chord of music strikes us and straight we tremble | G |
We tremble like wind blown grass | I |
- | |
What was this dream we had a dream of music | L3 |
Music that rose from the opening earth like magic | L3 |
And shook its beauty upon us and died away | I |
The long cold streets extend once more before us | I |
The red sun drops the walls grow grey | I |
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VIII THE BOX WITH SILVER HANDLES | I |
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Well it was two days after my husband died | U2 |
Two days And the earth still raw above him | O |
And I was sweeping the carpet in their hall | C2 |
In number four the room with the red wall paper | F |
Some chorus girls and men were singing that song | V3 |
'They'll soon be lighting candles | I |
Round a box with silver handles' and hearing them sing it | Q |
I started to cry Just then he came along | V3 |
And stopped on the stairs and turned and looked at me | B |
And took the cigar from his mouth and sort of smiled | E2 |
And said 'Say what's the matter ' and then came down | P2 |
Where I was leaning against the wall | C2 |
And touched my shoulder and put his arm around me | B |
And I was so sad thinking about it | Q |
Thinking that it was raining and a cold night | M |
With Jim so unaccustomed to being dead | Y2 |
That I was happy to have him sympathize | I |
To feel his arm and leaned against him and cried | U2 |
And before I knew it he got me into a room | G3 |
Where a table was set and no one there | F |
And sat me down on a sofa and held me close | I |
And talked to me telling me not to cry | F |
That it was all right he'd look after me | B |
But not to cry my eyes were getting red | Y2 |
Which didn't make me pretty And he was so nice | I |
That when he turned my face between his hands | I |
And looked at me with those blue eyes of his | I |
And smiled and leaned and kissed me | B |
Somehow I couldn't tell him not to do it | Q |
Somehow I didn't mind I let him kiss me | B |
And closed my eyes Well that was how it started | V2 |
For when my heart was eased with crying and grief | W3 |
Had passed and left me quiet somehow it seemed | X3 |
As if it wasn't honest to change my mind | Y |
To send him away or say I hadn't meant it | Q |
And anyway it seemed so hard to explain | K2 |
And so we sat and talked not talking much | Y3 |
But meaning as much in silence as in words | I |
There in that empty room with palms about us | I |
That private dining room And as we sat there | F |
I felt my future changing day by day | I |
With unknown streets opening left and right | M |
New streets with farther lights new taller houses | I |
Doors swinging into hallways filled with light | M |
Half opened luminous windows with white curtains | I |
Streaming out in the night and sudden music | L3 |
And thinking of this and through it half remembering | E |
A quick and horrible death my husband's eyes | I |
The broken plastered walls my boy asleep | Z3 |
It seemed as if my brain would break in two | T2 |
My voice began to tremble and when I stood | A4 |
And told him I must go and said good night | M |
I couldn't see the end How would it end | B4 |
Would he return to morrow Or would he not | C4 |
And did I want him to or would I rather | F |
Look for another job He took my shoulders | I |
Between his hands and looked down into my eyes | I |
And smiled and said good night If he had kissed me | B |
That would have well I don't know but he didn't | D |
And so I went downstairs then half elated | V2 |
Hoping to close the door before that party | B |
In number four should sing that song again | X |
'They'll soon be lighting candles round a box with silver handles' | I |
And sure enough I did I faced the darkness | I |
And my eyes were filled with tears And I was happy | B |
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IX INTERLUDE | J2 |
- | |
The days the nights flow one by one above us | I |
The hours go silently over our lifted faces | I |
We are like dreamers who walk beneath a sea | B |
Beneath high walls we flow in the sun together | F |
We sleep we wake we laugh we pursue we flee | B |
- | |
We sit at tables and sip our morning coffee | B |
We read the papers for tales of lust or crime | D4 |
The door swings shut behind the latest comer | F |
We set our watches regard the time | D4 |
- | |
What have we done I close my eyes remember | F |
The great machine whose sinister brain before me | B |
Smote and smote with a rhythmic beat | J |
My hands have torn down walls the stone and plaster | F |
I dropped great beams to the dusty street | J |
- | |
My eyes are worn with measuring cloths of purple | G |
And golden cloths and wavering cloths and pale | R |
I dream of a crowd of faces white with menace | I |
Hands reach up to tear me My brain will fail | R |
- | |
Here where the walls go down beneath our picks | I |
These walls whose windows gap against the sky | F |
Atom by atom of flesh and brain and marble | G |
Will build a glittering tower before we die | F |
- | |
The young boy whistles hurrying down the street | J |
The young girl hums beneath her breath | N |
One goes out to beauty and does not know it | Q |
And one goes out to death | N |
- | |
- | |
X SUDDEN DEATH | N |
- | |
'Number four the girl who died on the table | G |
The girl with golden hair' | F |
The purpling body lies on the polished marble | G |
We open the throat and lay the thyroid bare | F |
- | |
One who held the ether cone remembers | I |
Her dark blue frightened eyes | I |
He heard the sharp breath quiver and saw her breast | E4 |
More hurriedly fall and rise | I |
Her hands made futile gestures she turned her head | Y2 |
Fighting for breath her cheeks were flushed to scarlet | H2 |
And suddenly she lay dead | Y2 |
- | |
And all the dreams that hurried along her veins | I |
Came to the darkness of a sudden wall | C2 |
Confusion ran among them they whirled and clamored | F4 |
They fell they rose they struck they shouted | V2 |
Till at last a pallor of silence hushed them all | C2 |
- | |
What was her name Where had she walked that morning | E |
Through what dark forest came her feet | J |
Along what sunlit walls what peopled street | J |
- | |
Backward he dreamed along a chain of days | I |
He saw her go her strange and secret ways | I |
Waking and sleeping noon and night | M |
She sat by a mirror braiding her golden hair | F |
She read a story by candlelight | M |
- | |
Her shadow ran before her along the street | J |
She walked with rhythmic feet | J |
Turned a corner descended a stair | F |
She bought a paper held it to scan the headlines | I |
Smiled for a moment at sea gulls high in sunlight | M |
And drew deep breaths of air | F |
- | |
Days passed bright clouds of days Nights passed And music | L3 |
Murmured within the walls of lighted windows | I |
She lifted her face to the light and danced | G4 |
The dancers wreathed and grouped in moving patterns | I |
Clustered receded streamed advanced | G4 |
- | |
Her dress was purple her slippers were golden | U |
Her eyes were blue and a purple orchid | V2 |
Opened its golden heart on her breast | E4 |
She leaned to the surly languor of lazy music | L3 |
Leaned on her partner's arm to rest | E4 |
The violins were weaving a weft of silver | F |
The horns were weaving a lustrous brede of gold | H4 |
And time was caught in a glistening pattern | I4 |
Time too elusive to hold | H4 |
- | |
Shadows of leaves fell over her face and sunlight | M |
She turned her face away | I |
Nearer she moved to a crouching darkness | I |
With every step and day | I |
- | |
Death who at first had thought of her only an instant | D |
At a great distance across the night | M |
Smiled from a window upon her and followed her slowly | B |
From purple light to light | M |
- | |
Once in her dreams he spoke out clearly crying | E |
'I am the murderer death | N |
I am the lover who keeps his appointment | D |
At the doors of breath ' | - |
- | |
She rose and stared at her own reflection | U |
Half dreading there to find | Y |
The dark eyed ghost waiting beside her | F |
Or reaching from behind | Y |
To lay pale hands upon her shoulders | I |
Or was this in her mind | Y |
- | |
She combed her hair The sunlight glimmered | Y |
Along the tossing strands | I |
Was there a stillness in this hair | F |
A quiet in these hands | I |
- | |
Death was a dream It could not change these eyes | I |
Blow out their light or turn this mouth to dust | Y |
She combed her hair and sang She would live forever | F |
Leaves flew past her window along a gust | Y |
And graves were dug in the earth and coffins passed | Y |
And music ebbed with the ebbing hours | I |
And dreams went along her veins and scattering clouds | I |
Threw streaming shadows on walls and towers | I |
- | |
- | |
XI | B |
- | |
Snow falls The sky is grey and sullenly glares | I |
With purple lights in the canyoned street | Y |
The fiery sign on the dark tower wreathes and flares | I |
The trodden grass in the park is covered with white | Y |
The streets grow silent beneath our feet | Y |
The city dreams it forgets its past to night | Y |
- | |
And one from his high bright window looking down | P2 |
Over the enchanted whiteness of the town | P2 |
Seeing through whirls of white the vague grey towers | I |
Desires like this to forget what will not pass | I |
The littered papers the dust the tarnished grass | I |
Grey death stale ugliness and sodden hours | I |
Deep in his heart old bells are beaten again | X |
Slurred bells of grief and pain | K2 |
Dull echoes of hideous times and poisonous places | I |
He desires to drown in a cold white peace of snow | B3 |
He desires to forget a million faces | I |
- | |
In one room breathes a woman who dies of hunger | F |
The clock ticks slowly and stops And no one winds it | Y |
In one room fade grey violets in a vase | I |
Snow flakes faintly hiss and melt on the window | B3 |
In one room minute by minute the flutist plays | I |
The lamplit page of music the tireless scales | I |
His hands are trembling his short breath fails | I |
- | |
In one room silently lover looks upon lover | F |
And thinks the air is fire | F |
The drunkard swears and touches the harlot's heartstrings | I |
With the sudden hand of desire | F |
- | |
And one goes late in the streets and thinks of murder | F |
And one lies staring and thinks of death | N |
And one who has suffered clenches her hands despairing | E |
And holds her breath | N |
- | |
Who are all these who flow in the veins of the city | B |
Coil and revolve and dream | C |
Vanish or gleam | C |
Some mount up to the brain and flower in fire | F |
Some are destroyed some die some slowly stream | C |
- | |
And the new are born who desire to destroy the old | Y |
And fires are kindled and quenched and dreams are broken | U |
And walls flung down | P2 |
And the slow night whirls in snow over towers of dreamers | I |
And whiteness hushes the town | P2 |
Conrad Potter Aiken
(1)
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