Works

To E. B. B.


I
There they are, my fifty men and women
Naming me the fifty poems finished!
Take them, Love, the book and me together:
Where the heart lies, let the brain lie also.
...

Over the sea our galleys went,
With cleaving prows in order brave,
To a speeding wind and a bounding wave,

A gallant armament:
Each bark built out of a forest-tree,
...

'The poets pour us wine'
Said the dearest poet I ever knew,
Dearest and greatest and best to me.
You clamor athirst for poetry
We pour. 'But when shall a vintage be'...

Oh, the old wall here! How I could pass
Life in a long midsummer day,
My feet confined to a plot of grass,
My eyes from a wall not once away!

And lush and lithe, do the creepers clothe...

Oh, worthy of belief I hold it was,
Virgil, your legend in those strange three lines!
No question, that adventure came to pass
One black night in Arcadia: yes, the pines,...

Scene. Basil; a chamber in the house of Paracelsus. 1526.
Paracelsus, Festus.


Paracelsus.
Heap logs and let the blaze laugh out!


Festus.
True, true!...

Scene. Constantinople; the house of a Greek Conjurer. 1521.
Paracelsus.


Paracelsus.


Over the waters in the vaporous West
The sun goes down as in a sphere of gold...

Scene. W'rzburg; a garden in the environs. 1512.
Festus, Paracelsus, Michal.


Paracelsus.
Come close to me, dear friends; still closer; thus!
Close to the heart which, though long time roll by...

Scene. Colmar in Alsatia: an Inn. 1528.
Paracelsus, Festus.


Paracelsus
[to Johannes Oporinus, his Secretary].
Sic itur ad astra! Dear Von Visenburg...

Scene. Salzburg; a cell in the Hospital of St. Sebastian. 1541.
Festus, Paracelsus.


Festus.


No change! The weary night is well-nigh spent,...

Round the cape of a sudden came the sea,
And the sun looked over the mountain's rim
And straight was a path of gold for him,
And the need of a world of men for me.

Pauline, mine own, bend o'er me thy soft breast
Shall pant to mine bend o'er me thy sweet eyes,
And loosened hair, and breathing lips, arms
Drawing me to thee these build up a screen...

First I salute this soil of the blessed, river and rock!
Gods of my birthplace, d'mons and heroes, honour to all!
Then I name thee, claim thee for our patron, co-equal in praise...

I could have painted pictures like that youth's
Ye praise so. How my soul springs up! No bar
Stayed me, ah, thought which saddens while it soothes!
Never did fate forbid me, star by star,...

Scene. Inside the Turret on the Hill above Asolo. Luigi and his Mother entering.


Mother
If there blew wind, you'd hear a long sigh, easing
The utmost heaviness of music's heart.


Luigi...

Scene. Over Orcana. The house of Jules, who crosses its threshold with Phene: she is silent, on which Jules begins


Do not die, Phene! I am yours now, you
Are mine now; let fate reach me how she likes,...

Scene. Up the Hill-side, inside the Shrub-house. Luca's wife, Ottima, and her paramour, the German Sebald.


Sebald
[sings]

Let the watching lids wink!
Day's a-blaze with eyes, think!...

Scene. Inside the Palace by the Duomo. Monsignor, dismissing his Attendants.


Monsignor

...

The year's at the spring,
And day's at the morn;
Morning's at seven;
The hill-side's dew-pearl'd;
The lark's on the wing;
The snail's on the thorn;
God's in His heaven
All's right with the world!

I
Over the ball of it,
Peering and prying,
How I see all of it,
Life there, outlying!
Roughness and smoothness,
Shine and defilement,
Grace and uncouthness:
One reconcilement.
...