FOLLOW A WORD THROUGH THE COLLECTION
Search the corpus.
Phrase search ignores case and repeated whitespace. All-words search finds whole words anywhere on the same page. OCR errors can affect results.
31 matching pages
Page 1 of 21905 · PDF PAGE 16
ELVINA Written at Eastbourne. Tune—“ German Evening Hymn.” WAS thy fault to be too tender ? Was thine error to be weak ? Was my kiss the chief offender Pressed upon thy blushing cheek ? Was it sin to press and press thee Till thy burning lips at last Madly kissed me ? How I bless thee, Now, for that superb repast ! All-consuming, all-devouring, All-absorbing, burnt the flame ; Burnt unchecked till, hotly showering, Passion disregarded Shame ! Was it sin—that moonlight madness ? Was our passion so accurst ? Sweetness damned to mother Sadness ? S…
1905 · PDF PAGE 115
…ace by power increasing In me by power to peace. Desunt cetera. [The MS. of this Hymn most mysteriously disappeared two days after being written. I can remember no more of it than the above; nor will inspiration return.]
1905 · PDF PAGE 13
A PEEP BEHIND THE SCENES Written By a student at King’s College Hospital IN the hospital bed she lay, Rotting away ! Cursing by night and cursing by day, Rotting away ! The lupus is over her face and head, Filthy and foul and horrid and dread, And her shrieks they would almost wake the dead ; Rotting away ! In her horrible grave she lay, Rotting away ! Rotting by night, and rotting by day, Rotting away ! In the place of her face is a gory hole, And the worms are gnawing the tissues foul, And the devil is gloating over her soul, Rotting away ! 8
1905 · PDF PAGE 7
THE BALLOON Written (at the age of fifteen, and still unsurpassed) in bed with measles at Tonbridge in Kent. FLOATING in the summer air, What is that for men to see ? Anywhere and everywhere, Now a bullet, now a tree— Till we all begin to swear : What the devil can it be ? See its disproportioned head, Tiny trunk and limbs lopped bare, Hydrocephalus the dread With a surgeon chopping there ; Chopping legs and arms all red With the sticky lumps of hair. Like a man in this complaint Floats this creature in the sky, Till the gaping rustics faint An…
1905 · PDF PAGE 108
METEMPSYCHOSIS Written at Vera Cruz. DIM goes the sun down there behind the tall And mighty crest of Orizaba’s snow : Here, gathering at the nightfall, to and fro, Fat vultures, foul and carrion, flap, and call Their ghastly comrades to the domèd wall That crowns the grey cathedral. There they go— The parasites of death, decay and woe, Gorged with the day’s indecent festival. I think these birds were once the souls of priests. They haunt by ancient habit the old home Wherein they held high mass in days of old. But now they soar above it—for beh…
1905 · PDF PAGE 114
THE DANCE OF SHIVA Written at the House of Sri Parananda Swami, Ceylon. WITH feet set terribly dancing, With eyelids filled of flame, Wild lightnings from Him glancing, Lord Shiva went and came. The dancing of His feet was heard And was the final word. He danced the measure golden On dead men . . . His Saints and Rishis olden, The yogins that . . . He trampled them to dust and they Were sparks and no more clay. The dust thrown up around Him In cycles whirled and twined, Dim sparks that fled and found Him Like mist beyond the mind. The universe …
1905 · PDF PAGE 163
EVE Written in the Mosque of Omar. HERS was the first sufficient sacrifice That won us freedom, hers the generous gift That turned herself upon the curse adrift Sailless and rudderless, to pay the price Of permanence with pain, of love with vice, Like a tall ship swan-lovely, swallow-swift, That makes upon the breakers. So the rift Sprang and the flame roared. Farewell, Paradise ! How shall a man that is a man reward Her priceless sacrifice, rebuke the Lord ? Why, there’s Convention’s corral ; ring her round ! Here’s shame’s barbed wire ; push …
1905 · PDF PAGE 165
LA COUREUSE Written in the Quartier Latin, Paris. A FADED skirt, a silken petticoat, A little jacket, a small shapely shoe, A toque. A symphony in gray and blue, The child ripples, the conquering master-note Sublety. Faint, stray showers of twilight float In shadows round the well-poised head ; dark, true, Joyous the eyes laugh—and are weeping too, For all the victory of her royal throat. She showed her purse with tantalizing grace : Some sous, a franc, a key, some stuff, soft grey. The mocking laughter trills upon her tongue : “ There’s all my…
1905 · PDF PAGE 88
HYMN TO APOLLO Written in the Temple of Apollo, Scotland. GOD of the golden face and fiery forehead ! Lord of the Lion’s house of strength, exalted In the Ram’s horns ! O ruler of the vaulted Heavenly hollow ! Send out thy rays majestic, and the torrid Light of thy song ! thy countenance most splendid Bend to the suppliant on his face extended ! Hear me, Apollo ! Let thy fierce fingers sweep the lyre forgotten ! Recall the ancient glory of thy chanted Music that thrilled the hearts of men, and haunted Life to adore thee ! Cleanse thou our marke…
1905 · PDF PAGE 168
RONDELS (AT MONTE CARLO) Written in the Casino, Monte Carlo. I THERE is no hell but earth : O coil of fate Binding us surely in the Halls of Birth, The unsubstantial, the dissolving state ! There is no hell but earth. Vain are the falsehoods that subserve to mirth. Dust is to dust, create or uncreate. The wheel is bounded by the world’s great girth. By prayer and penance unregenerate, Redeemed by no man’s sacrifice or worth, We swing : no mortal knows his ultimate. There is no hell but earth. II In all the skies the planets and the stars Receiv…
1905 · PDF PAGE 166
TO “ELIZABETH ” WITH A COPY OF TANNHÄUSER Written in the Akasa. THE story of a fool. From love and death Emancipate, he stands above. The goal Is in the shrines of misty air : there roll The voices and the songs of One who saith : “ There is no peace for him who lingereth.” Love is a cinder now that was a coal : Either were vain. The great magician’s soul Is far too weak to risk Elizabeth. All this is past and under me. Above, Around, the magian tree of knowledge waves Its rosy flowers and golden fruit. I know Indeed that he is caught therein w…
1905 · PDF PAGE 153
ST PATRICK’S DAY 1902 Written at Delhi. O GOOD St Patrick, turn again Thy mild eyes to the Western main ! Shalt thou be silent ? thou forget ? Are there no snakes in Ireland yet ? Death to the Saxon ! Slay nor spare ! O God of Justice, hear us swear ! The iron Saxon’s bloody hand Metes out his murder on the land. The light of Erin is forlorn. The country fades : the people mourn. Of land bereft, of right beguiled, Starved, tortured, murdered, or exiled ; Of freedom robbed, of faith cajoled, In secret councils bought and sold ! Their weapons are…
1905 · PDF PAGE 164
THE SIBYL Written in the Land of Nod (chez Homer).* CROUCHED o’er the tripod the pale priestess moans Ambiguous destiny, divided fate. Sibylline oracles of woe create Roars as of beasts, majestic monotones Of wind, strong cries of elemental thrones, All sounds of mystery of the Pythian state ! O woman without change or joy or date I await thy oracle as the Delphian stone’s ! So thou to me : best lover of . . . Thou who art love and pity and clean art, Wearing a rosebud on thy blood-bright heart, A lily on thy brows ; I comprehend Thy mystic utt…
1905 · PDF PAGE 116
SONNET FOR A PICTURE Written in the woods above Kandy. Inscribed to T. Davidson. LURED by the loud big-breasted courtezan That plies trained lechery of obedient eyes, He sits, holds bed’s last slattern-sweet surprise, Late plucked from gutter to grace groves of Pan. The third one, ruddy as they twain are wan, Hungrily gazes, sees her tower of lies Blasted that instant in some wizard wise— The frozen look—the miserable man ! What sudden barb of what detested dart Springs from Apollo’s bowstring to his heart ? On sense-dulled ears what Voice ring…
1905 · PDF PAGE 92
VENUS Written in the temple of the L.I.L., No. 9, Central America. MISTRESS and maiden and mother, immutable mutable soul ! Love, shalt thou turn to another ? Surely I give thee the whole ! Light, shall thou flicker or darken ? Thou and thy lover are met. Bend from thy heaven and hearken ! Life, shalt thou fade or forget ? Surely my songs are gone down as leaves in the dark that are blown : Surely the laurel and crown have faded and left me alone. Vainly I cry in the sunlight ; moon pities my passion in vain. Dark to my eyes is the one light, a…
1905 · PDF PAGE 14
TO MRS O . . . . . . N C . . . T Written during the first session of the Licensing Committee of the London County Council. I WILL not bring abuse to point my pen, Nor a sarcastic tongue. Think only what you might be, before men, If you were young. What fierce temptations might not lovers bring In London’s wicked city ? Perhaps you might yourself have one wee fling, If you were pretty. What might not hard starvation drive you to, With Death so near and sure ? Perhaps it might drive even virtuous you, If you were poor. But is it just, or grateful…
1905 · PDF PAGE 84
THE STORM Written on the North Atlantic Ocean. IN the sorrow of the silence of the sunset, when the world’s heart sinks to sleep, And the waking wind arises from the wedding of the aether and the deep, There are perfumes through the saltness of the even ; there are hints of flowers afar ; And the God goes down lamented by the lonely vesper star. The monsters rise around us as we move in moving mist, Slow whales that swim as musing, and lo ! or ever we wist, Looms northward in the grey, mysterious ice, cathedral high, Clad in transparent clouds …
1905 · PDF PAGE 121
ANIMA LUNAE Written partly under the great rock Sigiri, partly in Arabia, near Aden. ZÔHRA the king by feathered fans Slept lightly through the mid-day heat. Swart giants with drawn yataghans Guard, standing at his head and feet, Zôhra, the mightiest of the khans ! Each slave Circassian like a moon Sits smiling, burning with young bloom Of dawn, and weaves an airy tune Like a white bird’s song bright and bold That dips a fiery plume. So the song lulled, lazily rolled In tubes of silver, lutes of gold ; And all that palace drowsed away The hours…
1905 · PDF PAGE 110
…Sprang, one vast mass of spume and molten fire, Lava, tremendous waves of earth ; sprang higher Than the sea’s crest volcano-torn, to be Written in Cyclopean charactery, Hawaii. Here she stands Queen of all laughter’s lands That dance for dawn, lie tranced in leisured noon, Dreaming through day towards night, Craving the perfumed light Of the stars lustrous, and the gem-born moon. Dewy with clustered diamond, The long land swoons to sleep ; the sea sleeps and yet wakes beyond. Here, in the crescent beach and bay, the sea, Curven and carven in w…
1905 · PDF PAGE 6
THE DEATH OF THE DRUNKARD (This, the earliest poem ever written by me, has perished save the following fragment. Its date is 1886 or 1887.) I TERROR, and darkness, and horrid despair ! Agony painted upon the once fair Brow of the man who refused to give up The love of the wine-filled, the o’erflowing cup. “ Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging.” No wine in death is his torment assuaging. II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Just what the parson had told me when young : Just what the people in chapel have sung : “ Wine is a mocker, strong drink is…