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\title{Sun-Up and Other Poems}
\date{}
\author{Lola Ridge}
\subtitle{}




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\begin{document}






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\chapter{Dedication}


(To my Mother)



\begin{verse}
Let me cradle myself back\forcelinebreak
Into the darkness\forcelinebreak
Of the half shapes\dots{}\forcelinebreak
Of the cauled beginnings\dots{}\forcelinebreak
Let me stir the attar of unused air,\forcelinebreak
Elusive\dots{} ironically fragrant\forcelinebreak
As a dead queen’s kerchief\dots{}\forcelinebreak
Let me blow the dust from off you\dots{}\forcelinebreak
Resurrect your breath\forcelinebreak
Lying limp as a fan\forcelinebreak
In a dead queen’s hand.
\end{verse}

\part{Sun-Up}

\chapter{Sun-Up}



\begin{verse}
(Shadows over a cradle\dots{}\forcelinebreak
fire-light craning\dots{}\forcelinebreak
A hand\forcelinebreak
throws something in the fire\forcelinebreak
and a smaller hand\forcelinebreak
runs into the flame and out again,\forcelinebreak
singed and empty\dots{}\forcelinebreak
Shadows\forcelinebreak
settling over a cradle\dots{}\forcelinebreak
two hands\forcelinebreak
and a fire.)
\end{verse}

\section{I\forcelinebreak  Celia}



\begin{verse}
Cherry, cherry,\forcelinebreak
glowing on the hearth,\forcelinebreak
bright red cherry\dots{}\forcelinebreak
When you try to pick up cherry\forcelinebreak
Celia’s shriek\forcelinebreak
sticks in you like a pin.

~~~:  :

When God throws hailstones\forcelinebreak
you cuddle in Celia’s shawl\forcelinebreak
and press your feet on her belly\forcelinebreak
high up like a stool.\forcelinebreak
When Celia makes umbrella of her hand.\forcelinebreak
Rain falls through\forcelinebreak
big pink spokes of her fingers.\forcelinebreak
When wind blows Celia’s gown up off her legs\forcelinebreak
she runs under pillars of the bank—\forcelinebreak
great round pillars of the bank\forcelinebreak
have on white stockings too.

~~~:  :

Celia says my father\forcelinebreak
will bring me a golden bowl.\forcelinebreak
When I think of my father\forcelinebreak
I cannot see him\forcelinebreak
for the big yellow bowl\forcelinebreak
like the moon with two handles\forcelinebreak
he carries in front of him.

~~~:  :

Grandpa, grandpa\dots{}\forcelinebreak
(Light all about you\dots{}\forcelinebreak
ginger\dots{} pouring out of green jars\dots{})\forcelinebreak
You don’t believe he has gone away and left his great coat\dots{}\forcelinebreak
so you pretend\dots{} you see his face up in the ceiling.\forcelinebreak
When you clap your hands and cry, grandpa, grandpa, grandpa,\forcelinebreak
Celia crosses herself.

~~~:  :

It isn’t a dream\dots{}\forcelinebreak
It comes again and again\dots{}\forcelinebreak
You hear ivy crying on steeples\forcelinebreak
the flames haven’t caught yet\forcelinebreak
and images screaming\forcelinebreak
when they see red light on the lilies\forcelinebreak
on the stained glass window of St. Joseph.\forcelinebreak
The girl with the black eyes holds you tight,\forcelinebreak
and you run\dots{} and run\forcelinebreak
past the wild, wild towers\dots{}\forcelinebreak
and trees in the gardens tugging at their feet\forcelinebreak
and little frightened dolls\forcelinebreak
shut up in the shops\forcelinebreak
crying\dots{} and crying\dots{} because no one stops\dots{}\forcelinebreak
you spin like a penny thrown out in the street.\forcelinebreak
Then the man clutches her by the hair\dots{}\forcelinebreak
He always clutches her by the hair\dots{}\forcelinebreak
His eyes stick out like spears.\forcelinebreak
You see her pulled-back face\forcelinebreak
and her black, black eyes\forcelinebreak
lit up by the glare\dots{}\forcelinebreak
Then everything goes out.\forcelinebreak
Please God, don’t let me dream any more\forcelinebreak
of the girl with the black, black eyes.

~~~:  :

Celia’s shadow rocks and rocks\dots{}\forcelinebreak
and mama’s eyes stare out of the pillow\forcelinebreak
as though she had gone away\forcelinebreak
and the night had come in her place\forcelinebreak
as it comes in empty rooms\dots{}\forcelinebreak
you can’t bear it—\forcelinebreak
the night threshing about\forcelinebreak
and lashing its tail on its sides\forcelinebreak
as bold as a wolf that isn’t afraid—\forcelinebreak
and you scream at her face, that is white as a stone on a grave\forcelinebreak
and pull it around to the light,\forcelinebreak
till the night draws backward\dots{} the night that walks alone\forcelinebreak
and goes away without end.\forcelinebreak
Mama says, I am cold, Betty, and shivers.\forcelinebreak
Celia tucks the quilt about her feet,\forcelinebreak
but I run for my little red cloak\forcelinebreak
because red is hot like fire.

~~~:  :

I wish Celia\forcelinebreak
could see the sea climb up on the sky\forcelinebreak
and slide off again\dots{}\forcelinebreak
\dots{}Celia saying\forcelinebreak
I’d beg the world with you\dots{}\forcelinebreak
Celia\dots{} holding on to the cab\dots{}\forcelinebreak
hands wrenched away\dots{}\forcelinebreak
wind in the masts\dots{} like Celia crying\dots{}\forcelinebreak
Celia never minded if you slapped her\forcelinebreak
when the comb made your hairs ache,\forcelinebreak
but though you rub your cheek against mama’s hand\forcelinebreak
she has not said darling since\dots{}\forcelinebreak
Now I will slap her again\dots{}\forcelinebreak
I will bite her hand till it bleeds.

It is cool by the port hole.\forcelinebreak
The wet rags of the wind\forcelinebreak
flap in your face.
\end{verse}

\section{II\forcelinebreak  The Alley}



\begin{verse}
Because you are four years old\forcelinebreak
the candle is all dressed up in a new frill.\forcelinebreak
And stars nod to you through the hole in the curtain,\forcelinebreak
(except the big stiff planets\forcelinebreak
too fat to move about much,)\forcelinebreak
and you curtsey back to the stars\forcelinebreak
when no one is looking.\forcelinebreak
You feel sorry for the poor wooden chair\forcelinebreak
that knows it isn’t nice to sit on,\forcelinebreak
and no one is sad but mama.\forcelinebreak
You don’t like mama to be sad\forcelinebreak
when you are four years old,\forcelinebreak
so you pretend\forcelinebreak
you like the bitter gold-pale tea—\forcelinebreak
you pretend\forcelinebreak
if you don’t drink it up pretty quick\forcelinebreak
a little gold-fish\forcelinebreak
will think it is a pond\forcelinebreak
and come and get born in it.

~~~:  :

It’s hot in our street\forcelinebreak
and the breeze is a dirty little broom\forcelinebreak
that sweeps dust into our room\forcelinebreak
and bits of paper out of the alley.\forcelinebreak
You are not let to play\forcelinebreak
with the children in the alley\forcelinebreak
But you must be very polite—\forcelinebreak
so you pass them and say good day\forcelinebreak
and when they fling banana skins\forcelinebreak
you fling them back again.

~~~:  :

There is no one to play with\forcelinebreak
and the flies on the window\forcelinebreak
buzz and buzz\dots{}\forcelinebreak
\dots{}you can pull out their legs\forcelinebreak
and stick pins in their bodies\forcelinebreak
but still they buzz\dots{}\forcelinebreak
and mama says:\forcelinebreak
When Nero was a little boy\forcelinebreak
he caught flies on his mama’s window\forcelinebreak
and pulled out their legs\forcelinebreak
and stuck pins in their bodies\forcelinebreak
and nobody loved him.\forcelinebreak
Buzz, blue-bellied flies—\forcelinebreak
buzz, nasty black wheel\forcelinebreak
of mama’s machine—\forcelinebreak
you are the biggest fly of all—\forcelinebreak
you have the loudest buzz.\forcelinebreak
I hear you at dawn before the locusts.\forcelinebreak
But I like the picture of the Flood\forcelinebreak
and the little babies getting drowned\dots{}\forcelinebreak
If I were there I would save them,\forcelinebreak
but as I can’t save them\forcelinebreak
I like to watch them\forcelinebreak
getting drowned.

~~~:  :

When mama buys of Ling Ho,\forcelinebreak
he smiles very wide\forcelinebreak
and picks her the largest loquots.\forcelinebreak
The greens-man gave her a cabbage\forcelinebreak
and she held it against her black bodice\forcelinebreak
and said what a beautiful green it was\forcelinebreak
and put it on the table\forcelinebreak
as though it had been a flower.\forcelinebreak
But next day we boiled and ate it with salt.\forcelinebreak
It was our dinner.

~~~:  :

Christmas day\forcelinebreak
I found Janie on my pillow.\forcelinebreak
Janie is made of rubber.\forcelinebreak
Her red and blue jacket won’t come off.\forcelinebreak
Christmas dinner was green and white\forcelinebreak
chicken and lettuce and peas\forcelinebreak
and drops of oil on the salad\forcelinebreak
smiley and full of light\forcelinebreak
like the gold on the lady’s teeth.

But mama said politely\forcelinebreak
Thank you, we are dining out.\forcelinebreak
She wouldn’t let you take one pea\forcelinebreak
to put in the hole where the whistle was\forcelinebreak
at the back of Janie’s head,\forcelinebreak
so Janie should have some dinner\forcelinebreak
So you went to the park with biscuits\forcelinebreak
and black tea in a bottle.

~~~:  :

You feel very sad\forcelinebreak
when you climb on the fence\forcelinebreak
to watch mama out of sight.\forcelinebreak
The women in the alley\forcelinebreak
poke their heads out of doorways\forcelinebreak
and watch her too.\forcelinebreak
You know her\forcelinebreak
by the way she holds her shoulders\forcelinebreak
till she is only a speck\forcelinebreak
in a chain of specks—\forcelinebreak
till she is swallowed up.\forcelinebreak
But suppose\forcelinebreak
that day after day\forcelinebreak
you were to watch for her face\forcelinebreak
and it didn’t come back?\forcelinebreak
Suppose\forcelinebreak
it were to drop out of the string of white faces\forcelinebreak
like the pearl out of my chain\forcelinebreak
I never found again?

~~~:  :

Mabel minds you while mama is out,\forcelinebreak
she washes while she sings\forcelinebreak
Three blind mice!\forcelinebreak
they all run away from the farmer’s wife\forcelinebreak
who cut off their tails\forcelinebreak
with a carving knife—\forcelinebreak
Wind blows out Mabel’s sheets,\forcelinebreak
way you blow in a bag before you burst it.\forcelinebreak
Wind has a soapy smell.\forcelinebreak
It’s heavier’n sun\forcelinebreak
that lies all over you without any weight\forcelinebreak
and makes you feel happy\forcelinebreak
and crinkly like bubbling water.\forcelinebreak
There’s no sun on the empty house—\forcelinebreak
sly-looking house—\forcelinebreak
you can’t see in its windows\forcelinebreak
that watch you out of their corners.\forcelinebreak
Perhaps there’s a big spider there\forcelinebreak
spinning gray threads over the windows\forcelinebreak
till they look like dead people’s faces\dots{}\forcelinebreak
Jimmie says:\forcelinebreak
Jimmie’s hair is white as a white mouse.\forcelinebreak
His lashes are gold as mama’s wedding ring\forcelinebreak
and his mouth feels cool and smooth\forcelinebreak
like a flower wet with rain.\forcelinebreak
You wouldn’t believe Jimmie was different\dots{}\forcelinebreak
~~~till he showed you\dots{}

~~~:  :

Blind wet sheets\forcelinebreak
flapping on the lines\dots{}\forcelinebreak
sun in your eyes,\forcelinebreak
dark gold sun\forcelinebreak
full of little black spots,\forcelinebreak
you have to blink and blink\dots{}\forcelinebreak
round eyes of Jimmie\dots{}\forcelinebreak
Jimmie’s blue jumper\dots{}\forcelinebreak
blue shadow of wall\dots{}\forcelinebreak
all the world holding still\forcelinebreak
as when a clock stops\dots{}\forcelinebreak
streets still\dots{} people still\dots{}\forcelinebreak
no streets\dots{} no people\dots{}\forcelinebreak
only sky and wall\dots{}\forcelinebreak
sun glaring bright as God\forcelinebreak
down at you and Jimmie\dots{}\forcelinebreak
shadow like a purple cloth\forcelinebreak
trailing off the wall\dots{}

Wild wet sheets\forcelinebreak
flapping in the wind\dots{}\forcelinebreak
big slippered feet flapping too\dots{}\forcelinebreak
big-balloon-face\forcelinebreak
rushing up the alley\dots{}\forcelinebreak
houses closing up again\dots{}\forcelinebreak
windows looking round\dots{}\forcelinebreak
\dots{} Mabel pulls you in the gate and shakes you\forcelinebreak
and tells you not to tell your mama\dots{}\forcelinebreak
And you wonder\forcelinebreak
if God has spoiled Jimmie.
\end{verse}

\section{III\forcelinebreak  Mama}



\begin{verse}
Mama’s face\forcelinebreak
is smooth and pale as tea-rose leaves.\forcelinebreak
That ivory oval of aunt Gem\forcelinebreak
you sucked the miniature off\forcelinebreak
had black black hair like mama.

~~~:  :

Pit-it-ty-pat,\forcelinebreak
Mama walks so fast,\forcelinebreak
street lamps jig\forcelinebreak
without bending a leg\dots{}\forcelinebreak
lights in the windows\forcelinebreak
play twinkling tunes\forcelinebreak
on crimson and blue\forcelinebreak
bottles like bubbles\forcelinebreak
big as balloons\dots{}\forcelinebreak
Faster and faster\dots{}\forcelinebreak
and pink light spurts\forcelinebreak
over cakes doing polkas\forcelinebreak
in little white shirts,\forcelinebreak
with cake-princesses\forcelinebreak
in flounced white skirts.

Pit-pat—\forcelinebreak
mama walks slower\dots{}\forcelinebreak
slower and\dots{} slower\dots{}\forcelinebreak
Eyes\dots{} lamps\dots{} stars\dots{}\forcelinebreak
acres and acres of stars\dots{}\forcelinebreak
bells\dots{} and sleepily\forcelinebreak
flapping feet\dots{}\forcelinebreak
You’re glad mama walks slow.\forcelinebreak
It’s nice to be carried along\forcelinebreak
up high near the stars\forcelinebreak
that look at you with a grave, great look.

~~~:  :

Every night\forcelinebreak
mama sings you to sleep.\forcelinebreak
When she sings, O for the light of thine eyes Dolores,\forcelinebreak
there’s a castle on a cliff\forcelinebreak
and the sea roars like lions.\forcelinebreak
It leaps at the castle\forcelinebreak
and the cliff knocks it down\forcelinebreak
but always the sea\forcelinebreak
shakes its flattened head\forcelinebreak
and gets up again.\forcelinebreak
The castle has no roof\forcelinebreak
so the rain spins silvery webs in it,\forcelinebreak
and Dolores’ face\forcelinebreak
floats dim and beautiful\forcelinebreak
the way flowers do when they are drowned.\forcelinebreak
Step by white step\forcelinebreak
she goes up the castle stairs,\forcelinebreak
but the stair goes up into the sky\forcelinebreak
and the sky keeps going up too,\forcelinebreak
and none of them ever get there.

When mama sings Ba ba black sheep,\forcelinebreak
the stars seem to shine through her voice\forcelinebreak
so everything has to be still,\forcelinebreak
and when she has finished singing\forcelinebreak
her song goes up off the earth,\forcelinebreak
higher and higher\dots{}\forcelinebreak
till it is only as big as a tiny silver bird\forcelinebreak
with nothing but moonlight around it.
\end{verse}

\section{IV\forcelinebreak  Betty}



\begin{verse}
You can see the sandhills from our new room.\forcelinebreak
Butterflies\forcelinebreak
live in the sandhills\forcelinebreak
and lizards\forcelinebreak
and centipedes.\forcelinebreak
If you keep very still\forcelinebreak
lizards will think you a stone\forcelinebreak
and run over your lap.\forcelinebreak
Butterflies’ liveries\forcelinebreak
are scarlet and black.\forcelinebreak
They drive chariots in air.\forcelinebreak
People in the chariots\forcelinebreak
are pale as dew—\forcelinebreak
you can see right through them—\forcelinebreak
but the chariots\forcelinebreak
are made of gold of the sun.\forcelinebreak
They go up to heaven\forcelinebreak
and never catch fire.\forcelinebreak
There are green centipedes\forcelinebreak
and brown centipedes\forcelinebreak
and black centipedes,\forcelinebreak
because green and brown and black\forcelinebreak
are the colors in hell’s flag.\forcelinebreak
Centipedes\forcelinebreak
have hundreds of feet\forcelinebreak
because it is so far from hell\forcelinebreak
to come up for air.\forcelinebreak
Centipedes\forcelinebreak
do not hurry.\forcelinebreak
They are waiting for the last day\forcelinebreak
when they will creep over the false prophets\forcelinebreak
who will have their hands tied.

~~~:  :

Night calls to the sandhills\forcelinebreak
and gathers them under her.\forcelinebreak
she pushes away cities\forcelinebreak
because their sharp lights\forcelinebreak
hurt her soft breast.\forcelinebreak
Even candles make a sore place\forcelinebreak
when they stick in the night.

There are things in the sandhills\forcelinebreak
that no one knows about\dots{}\forcelinebreak
they come out at dark when the young snakes play\forcelinebreak
and tell each other secrets\forcelinebreak
in the deaf logs.

Sometimes\dots{} before rain\dots{}\forcelinebreak
when the stars have gone inside\dots{}\forcelinebreak
the night comes close to your window\forcelinebreak
and sniffs at the light\dots{}\forcelinebreak
But you must not run away—\forcelinebreak
you must keep your face to the night\forcelinebreak
and walk backward.

~~~:  :

When it rains\forcelinebreak
and you are pulling off flies’ legs\dots{}\forcelinebreak
mama lets you play houses\forcelinebreak
with Lizzie and Clara.\forcelinebreak
Because you are the Only One—\forcelinebreak
and because Only Ones have to live alone\forcelinebreak
while sisters stay together,\forcelinebreak
Lizzie and Clara\forcelinebreak
give you the dry house\forcelinebreak
and take the one with the leaking roof.

Rain like curly hairpins\forcelinebreak
blows on Lizzie and Clara’s two heads\forcelinebreak
turned like one head—\forcelinebreak
two mouths\forcelinebreak
spread into one laugh.\forcelinebreak
Lizzie is saying:\forcelinebreak
why don’t you want to play—\forcelinebreak
when you feel you’d like to braid\forcelinebreak
the crinkled-silver rain\forcelinebreak
into a shining rope\forcelinebreak
to climb up\dots{} and up\dots{} and up\dots{} into the wet sky\forcelinebreak
and never see any one again.

Our gate doesn’t hang right.\forcelinebreak
It must have pawed at the wind\forcelinebreak
and gotten a kick\forcelinebreak
as the wind passed over.\forcelinebreak
The sitting sky\forcelinebreak
puffs out a gray smoke\forcelinebreak
and the wind makes a red-striped sound\forcelinebreak
blowing out straight,\forcelinebreak
but our gate drags its foot\forcelinebreak
and whines to itself on one hinge.

~~~:  :

What do you think I’ve found—\forcelinebreak
two wee knickers of fairy brass,\forcelinebreak
or two gold sovereigns folded up\forcelinebreak
in a bit of green silk,\forcelinebreak
or two gold bugs\forcelinebreak
in little green shirts?\forcelinebreak
If you want to know,\forcelinebreak
you must walk tip-toe\forcelinebreak
so your feet just whisper in the grass—\forcelinebreak
you must carry them careful\forcelinebreak
and very proud,\forcelinebreak
for their stems bleed drops of milk—\forcelinebreak
but Lizzie and Clara shout in glee:\forcelinebreak
Pee-a-bed, pee-a-bed—\forcelinebreak
dandelions!\forcelinebreak
You look in the eyes of grown-up people\forcelinebreak
to see if they feel\forcelinebreak
the way you feel\dots{}\forcelinebreak
but they hide inside of themselves,\forcelinebreak
and so you do not find out.\forcelinebreak
Grown-up people say:\forcelinebreak
The stars are bright to-night,\forcelinebreak
but they do not say\forcelinebreak
what you are thinking about stars—\forcelinebreak
not even mama says what you are thinking about stars.\forcelinebreak
This makes you feel very lonely.

~~~:  :

It’s strange about stars\dots{}\forcelinebreak
You have to be still when they look at you.\forcelinebreak
They push your song inside of you with their song.\forcelinebreak
Their long silvery rays\forcelinebreak
sink into you and do not hurt.\forcelinebreak
It is good to feel them resting on you\forcelinebreak
like great white birds\dots{}\forcelinebreak
and their shining whiteness\forcelinebreak
doesn’t burn like the sun—\forcelinebreak
it washes all over you\forcelinebreak
and makes you feel cleaner’n water.

~~~:  :

My doll Janie has no waist\forcelinebreak
and her body is like a tub with feet on it.\forcelinebreak
Sometimes I beat her\forcelinebreak
but I always kiss her afterwards.\forcelinebreak
When I have kissed all the paint off her body\forcelinebreak
I shall tie a ribbon about it\forcelinebreak
so she shan’t look shabby.\forcelinebreak
But it must be blue—\forcelinebreak
it mustn’t be pink—\forcelinebreak
pink shows the dirt on her face\forcelinebreak
that won’t wash off.

~~~:  :

I beat Janie\forcelinebreak
and beat her\dots{}\forcelinebreak
but still she smiled\dots{}\forcelinebreak
so I scratched her between the eyes with a pin.\forcelinebreak
Now she doesn’t love me anymore\dots{}\forcelinebreak
she scowls\dots{} and scowls\dots{}\forcelinebreak
though I’ve begged her to forgive me\forcelinebreak
and poured sugar in the hole at the back of her head.

~~~:  :

Mama says Janie is a fairy doll\forcelinebreak
and she has forgiven me—\forcelinebreak
that she’s gone to the market\forcelinebreak
to buy me some sweets.\forcelinebreak
—Now she’s at the door\forcelinebreak
and a little bag tied to her neck—\forcelinebreak
I run to Janie\forcelinebreak
and kiss her all over\dots{}\forcelinebreak
Ah\dots{} she is still frowning.\forcelinebreak
I let the sweets drop on the floor—\forcelinebreak
mama\forcelinebreak
has told you a lie.

~~~:  :

Chinaman\forcelinebreak
singing in street:\forcelinebreak
gleen ledd-ish-es, gleen ledd-ish-es—\forcelinebreak
hot sun\forcelinebreak
shining on your face—\forcelinebreak
it must be a new day.\forcelinebreak
But why aren’t you happy\forcelinebreak
if it’s a new day?\forcelinebreak
Because something has happened\dots{}\forcelinebreak
something sad and terrible\dots{}\forcelinebreak
Now I remember\dots{} it’s Janie.\forcelinebreak
Yesterday\forcelinebreak
I took Janie out\forcelinebreak
and tied my handkerchief over her face\forcelinebreak
and put sand in it\forcelinebreak
and threw her into the ditch\forcelinebreak
down in the black water\forcelinebreak
under the dock leaves\dots{}\forcelinebreak
and when mama asked me where Janie was\forcelinebreak
I said I had lost her.

~~~:  :

I’m glad it is night-time\forcelinebreak
so I’ll be able to go to sleep\forcelinebreak
and forget all about it\dots{}\forcelinebreak
But mama looks at my tongue\forcelinebreak
and says she will give me senna tea.\forcelinebreak
When you smell the tea\forcelinebreak
you shut your eyes tight\forcelinebreak
and pretend not to hear\forcelinebreak
the soft, cool voice of mama\forcelinebreak
that goes over your forehead\forcelinebreak
like a little wind.\forcelinebreak
And then you lie in the dark\forcelinebreak
and stare\dots{} and stare\dots{}\forcelinebreak
till the faces come\dots{}\forcelinebreak
yellow faces with leering eyes\forcelinebreak
drifting in a greeny mist\dots{}\forcelinebreak
I wonder\forcelinebreak
if Janie sees faces\forcelinebreak
out there\dots{} alone in the dark\dots{}\forcelinebreak
I wonder\forcelinebreak
if she has got the handkerchief off\forcelinebreak
or if the water has gone in the hole\forcelinebreak
where the whistle was\forcelinebreak
at the back of her head\forcelinebreak
and drowned her\dots{}\forcelinebreak
or if the stars\forcelinebreak
can see her under the dock leaves?

~~~:  :

It’s smoky-blue and still\forcelinebreak
over the red road.\forcelinebreak
Wind must be lying down with its tail under it—\forcelinebreak
doesn’t even flick off the flies.\forcelinebreak
And you can hear the silence\forcelinebreak
buzzing in the gum trees,\forcelinebreak
the way the angels buzzed\forcelinebreak
when they flew through the cedars of Lebanon\forcelinebreak
with thin gauze wings\forcelinebreak
you could see through.\forcelinebreak
Nice to hear the silence buzzing—\forcelinebreak
till it comes too close\forcelinebreak
and booms in your ears\forcelinebreak
and presses all over you\forcelinebreak
till you scream\dots{}\forcelinebreak
When you scream at the silence\forcelinebreak
it goes to jingling pieces\forcelinebreak
like a silver mirror\forcelinebreak
broken into tiny bits.\forcelinebreak
Perhaps its wings are made of glass—\forcelinebreak
perhaps it lives down in a dark, dark cave\forcelinebreak
and only comes up\forcelinebreak
to warm its wings in the sun\dots{}\forcelinebreak
It’s cold in the cave—\forcelinebreak
no matter how you cover yourself up.\forcelinebreak
Little girls sit there\forcelinebreak
dressed in white\forcelinebreak
and the dolls in their arms\forcelinebreak
all have white handkerchiefs\forcelinebreak
over their faces.\forcelinebreak
Their shadows cannot play with them\dots{}\forcelinebreak
their shadows lie down at their feet\dots{}\forcelinebreak
for the little girls sit stiff as stones\forcelinebreak
with their backs to the mouth of the cave\forcelinebreak
where a little light falls off\forcelinebreak
the wings of the silence\forcelinebreak
when it comes down out of the sun.

~~~:  :

Moon catches the flying fish\forcelinebreak
as they dive in the bay.\forcelinebreak
Flying fish\forcelinebreak
spin over and over\forcelinebreak
slippity-silver\forcelinebreak
into the water.\forcelinebreak
Mom bends over jungles\forcelinebreak
and touches the foreheads of tigers\forcelinebreak
as they pass under openings made by dropped leaves.\forcelinebreak
Tigers stop on the trail of the deer\forcelinebreak
while the moon is on their foreheads—\forcelinebreak
they let the stags go by.

Moon is shining strangely\forcelinebreak
on the white palings of the fence.\forcelinebreak
Fence keeps very still\dots{}\forcelinebreak
most times it moves a little\dots{}\forcelinebreak
everything moves a little\forcelinebreak
though you mayn’t know it\dots{}\forcelinebreak
but now the little fence\forcelinebreak
wouldn’t change places with the great cross\forcelinebreak
that stands so stiff and high\forcelinebreak
with its back to the moon.\forcelinebreak
Moon shining strangely\forcelinebreak
on the white palings of the fence,\forcelinebreak
I am shining too\forcelinebreak
but my light is shut inside of me\forcelinebreak
and can’t get out.

~~~:  :

Old house with black windows—\forcelinebreak
blind house begging moonlight\forcelinebreak
to put out the shadows—\forcelinebreak
why do you want so much light?\forcelinebreak
You creak when the wind steps on you—\forcelinebreak
you cough up dust\forcelinebreak
and your beams ache—\forcelinebreak
you know you will soon fall,\forcelinebreak
the moon just pities you!\forcelinebreak
Don’t waste yourself moon—\forcelinebreak
come on my bed and play with me.\forcelinebreak
Wrap me up in blue light,\forcelinebreak
you who are cool.\forcelinebreak
I am too hot,\forcelinebreak
I am all alive\forcelinebreak
and the shadows are outside of me.

~~~:  :

There are different kinds of shadows.\forcelinebreak
The blind ones\forcelinebreak
are the shadows of things.\forcelinebreak
These are the tame shadows—\forcelinebreak
they love to play on the wall with you\forcelinebreak
and follow you about like cats and dogs.\forcelinebreak
Sometimes\forcelinebreak
they hiss at you softly\forcelinebreak
like snakes that do not bite,\forcelinebreak
or swish like women’s dresses,\forcelinebreak
but if you poke a candle at them\forcelinebreak
they pull in their heads and disappear.

But there is a shadow\forcelinebreak
that is not the shadow of a thing\dots{}\forcelinebreak
it is a thing itself.\forcelinebreak
When you meet this shadow\forcelinebreak
you must not look at it too long\dots{}\forcelinebreak
it grows with your looking at it\dots{}\forcelinebreak
till you are all alone\forcelinebreak
with nothing around you\dots{}\forcelinebreak
nothing\dots{} nothing\dots{} nothing\dots{}\forcelinebreak
but a shadow\forcelinebreak
with its eyes full of black light.

~~~:  :

There’s a shadow in the corner of the shed,\forcelinebreak
crouching, lying in wait\dots{}\forcelinebreak
a black coiled shadow,\forcelinebreak
watching\dots{} ready to strike\dots{}\forcelinebreak
but I mustn’t be afraid of it—\forcelinebreak
I mustn’t be afraid of anything.\forcelinebreak
Poor evil shadow,\forcelinebreak
the candle would chase it away\forcelinebreak
only she can’t get at it.\forcelinebreak
Do you think that every one hates you,\forcelinebreak
shadow with your back to the wall,\forcelinebreak
afraid to lie down and sleep?\forcelinebreak
But I don’t hate you.\forcelinebreak
Even the moon means to be kind.\forcelinebreak
She just treads on you\forcelinebreak
as I’d tread on a worm that I didn’t see.\forcelinebreak
Don’t be afraid of me, shadow.\forcelinebreak
See—I’ve no light in my hand—\forcelinebreak
nothing to save myself with—\forcelinebreak
yet I walk right up to you—\forcelinebreak
if you’ll let me\forcelinebreak
I’ll put my arms around you\forcelinebreak
and stroke you softly.\forcelinebreak
Are you surprised I’d put my arms around you?\forcelinebreak
Is it your black black sorrow\forcelinebreak
that nobody loves you?
\end{verse}

\section{V\forcelinebreak  Jude}



\begin{verse}
When you tell mama\forcelinebreak
you are going to do something great\forcelinebreak
she looks at you\forcelinebreak
as though you were a window\forcelinebreak
she were trying to see through,\forcelinebreak
and says she hopes you will be good\forcelinebreak
instead of great.

~~~:  :

When you are five years old\forcelinebreak
you spend the day in the Gardens.\forcelinebreak
The grass is greener than cabbages,\forcelinebreak
and orange lilies\forcelinebreak
stand up very straight\forcelinebreak
and will not curtsey to the sun\forcelinebreak
when the wind tells them.\forcelinebreak
Only pansies bow down very low.\forcelinebreak
Pansies make little purple cushions\forcelinebreak
for queen bees to stand on.\forcelinebreak
Bees\forcelinebreak
have brown silk hair on their bodies.\forcelinebreak
If you are careful\forcelinebreak
they will let you stroke them.

The trees over the marble man\forcelinebreak
catch up all the sunbeams\forcelinebreak
so the shadows have it their way—\forcelinebreak
the shadows swallow him up\forcelinebreak
like a blue shark.\forcelinebreak
When you scoop a sunbeam up on your palm\forcelinebreak
and offer it to the marble man,\forcelinebreak
he does not notice\dots{}\forcelinebreak
he looks into his stone beard.\forcelinebreak
\dots{} When you do something great\forcelinebreak
people give you a stone face,\forcelinebreak
so you do not care any more\forcelinebreak
when the sun throws gold on you\forcelinebreak
through leaf-holes the wind makes\forcelinebreak
in green bushes\dots{}\forcelinebreak
This thought makes me very sad.

~~~:  :

Jude has eyes like tobacco\forcelinebreak
with yellow specks on it\forcelinebreak
and his hair is red as a red orange.\forcelinebreak
Jude and I\forcelinebreak
have made a garden in the field\forcelinebreak
that no one knows about.\forcelinebreak
We creep in and out\forcelinebreak
through a little place\forcelinebreak
where the barbed wire is down.\forcelinebreak
We lie in the long grass\forcelinebreak
and crush dandelions\forcelinebreak
between our two cheeks\forcelinebreak
till the milk comes out on our faces.\forcelinebreak
We hold each other tight\forcelinebreak
and the wind tip-toes all over us\forcelinebreak
and pelts us with thistle-down.

~~~:  :

Jude isn’t afraid of shadows—\forcelinebreak
not even of the ones that have eyes in them.\forcelinebreak
And he can look in the face of the sun\forcelinebreak
without blinking at all.\forcelinebreak
Hush! don’t say sun so loud.\forcelinebreak
The sun gets angry when you stare at him.\forcelinebreak
If you peek in his glory-windows\forcelinebreak
he spreads into a great white flame\forcelinebreak
like God out of his Burning Bush\dots{}\forcelinebreak
till you put your hands up on your face\forcelinebreak
and tremble like a drop of rain upon a flower\forcelinebreak
that some one throws into the fire\dots{}\forcelinebreak
and then\forcelinebreak
the sun makes himself small,\forcelinebreak
the sun swings down out of the sky—\forcelinebreak
littler’n a star,\forcelinebreak
little as a spark\forcelinebreak
little as a fierce red spider\forcelinebreak
on a burning thread\dots{}\forcelinebreak
and then\forcelinebreak
the light goes out\dots{}\forcelinebreak
shivers into blackened bits\dots{}\forcelinebreak
You hold on to a wall that whirls around\forcelinebreak
and the gate is a black hole.\forcelinebreak
You grope your way in like a toad\forcelinebreak
that’s blinded by a stone\dots{}\forcelinebreak
and mama puts on cold wet rags\forcelinebreak
that get hot soon\dots{}\forcelinebreak
Hush! don’t let’s talk about the sun.

~~~:  :

When you pass by the ditch where Janie is\forcelinebreak
You run very fast\forcelinebreak
and look at the other side.\forcelinebreak
Jude says Janie did love me\forcelinebreak
only she couldn’t forgive me,\forcelinebreak
and that you can love people very much\forcelinebreak
and never, never, never forgive them\dots{}\forcelinebreak
so we poked a stick in the bottle-green water.\forcelinebreak
But only weeds came up\forcelinebreak
and an old top with the paint washed off.

~~~:  :

Jude and I\forcelinebreak
wave to the new moon\forcelinebreak
curled right up like one gold hair\forcelinebreak
on the bald-head sandhill.\forcelinebreak
Mama peeps out the window and smiles.\forcelinebreak
She thinks\forcelinebreak
I am playing with myself\dots{}\forcelinebreak
Run, Jude, run with the wind—\forcelinebreak
but hold my hand tight\forcelinebreak
or the wind,\forcelinebreak
looking for some one to play with,\forcelinebreak
will take me away from you!\forcelinebreak
Wind with no one to play with\forcelinebreak
cooees the orange-trees—\forcelinebreak
stay-at-home orange trees,\forcelinebreak
have to nurse oranges,\forcelinebreak
greeny-gold.\forcelinebreak
Wind shouts to the grass—\forcelinebreak
run-away-grass\forcelinebreak
tugs at its roots,\forcelinebreak
but the earth holds tight\forcelinebreak
and the grass falls down\forcelinebreak
and wind boos over it.\forcelinebreak
Wind whistles the bees—\forcelinebreak
bees too busy\forcelinebreak
with taking home stuff out of flowers\forcelinebreak
won’t look back—\forcelinebreak
bees always going somewhere.\forcelinebreak
Only Jude and I—\forcelinebreak
heads over shoulders\forcelinebreak
watching all roads at one time—\forcelinebreak
run with the wind,\forcelinebreak
going to nowhere.

~~~:  :

Jude and I\forcelinebreak
were weeding our garden\forcelinebreak
when we heard his whip—\forcelinebreak
must have been a new whip\forcelinebreak
to cut off dandelion-heads at one swing\dots{}\forcelinebreak
He was the kind of boy you knew when you had Celia\dots{}\forcelinebreak
with nice clothes on and curls\forcelinebreak
crawling about his collar\forcelinebreak
like little golden slugs,\forcelinebreak
and his man was leading his horse.\forcelinebreak
I wish I hadn’t run to meet him\dots{}\forcelinebreak
If you hadn’t run to meet him\forcelinebreak
he mightn’t have trod on your garden and said:\forcelinebreak
Get out of my field you dirty little beggar\dots{}\forcelinebreak
he mightn’t have struck you with his whip\dots{}\forcelinebreak
How the daisies stared\dots{}\forcelinebreak
I hate daisies—\forcelinebreak
stupid white faces—\forcelinebreak
skinny necks\forcelinebreak
craning over the grass!\forcelinebreak
I said It is not your field,\forcelinebreak
and he struck me again.\forcelinebreak
But he didn’t make me run.\forcelinebreak
His hand\forcelinebreak
smelled of sweet soap\dots{}\forcelinebreak
he couldn’t shake me off,\forcelinebreak
but his man did\dots{}\forcelinebreak
Funny—how the sky fell down\forcelinebreak
and turned over and over\forcelinebreak
like a blue carpet rolling you up,\forcelinebreak
and the grass caught at your face—\forcelinebreak
it couldn’t have been spiteful—\forcelinebreak
it must have been saving itself.\forcelinebreak
Hot road\dots{} silly wind playing with your hair\dots{}\forcelinebreak
The road smelled of horses.\forcelinebreak
I only got up\forcelinebreak
when I heard a dray.

~~~:  :

Mama has sung ba ba black sheep,\forcelinebreak
and put a chair with a cloth on it\forcelinebreak
between me and the light.\forcelinebreak
But the clock keeps saying:\forcelinebreak
Dirty little beggar,\forcelinebreak
dirty little beggar\dots{}\forcelinebreak
Some day\forcelinebreak
I will get that boy.\forcelinebreak
I will pull off his arms and legs\forcelinebreak
and put him in a box\forcelinebreak
and hide the box\forcelinebreak
under the bed\dots{}\forcelinebreak
I wonder\forcelinebreak
will he buzz\forcelinebreak
when I take him out to look at his body\forcelinebreak
that will have no arms to whip me?

Mama drew my cot to the window\forcelinebreak
so I can look at the stars.\forcelinebreak
I will not look at the stars.\forcelinebreak
There is a black chimney\forcelinebreak
throwing up sparks\forcelinebreak
and one tall flame\forcelinebreak
like gold hair in a blaze\dots{}\forcelinebreak
I know now\forcelinebreak
what I shall do\dots{}\forcelinebreak
I will set fire to him\forcelinebreak
and he will burn up into a tall flame—\forcelinebreak
he will scream into the sky\forcelinebreak
and sparks will fly out of him—\forcelinebreak
he will burn and burn\dots{}\forcelinebreak
and his blazing hair\forcelinebreak
shall light up the world.

~~~:  :

Before he hit me—\forcelinebreak
I knew he was going to—\forcelinebreak
I thought about Jude\dots{}\forcelinebreak
I thought if he’d fight\dots{}\forcelinebreak
but he shriveled all up\dots{}\forcelinebreak
he lay down like a fear.

Mama never knew about Jude.\forcelinebreak
You always wanted to tell her,\forcelinebreak
but somehow you never did.\forcelinebreak
You were afraid she’d smile\forcelinebreak
and say he wasn’t real—\forcelinebreak
that he was only a little dream-boy,\forcelinebreak
because the grass didn’t fall down under his feet\dots{}\forcelinebreak
He is fading now\dots{}\forcelinebreak
He is just lines\dots{} like a drawing\dots{}\forcelinebreak
You can see mama in between.\forcelinebreak
When she moves\forcelinebreak
she rubs some of him out.
\end{verse}

\part{Monologues}

\chapter{Jaguar}



\begin{verse}
Nasal intonations of light\forcelinebreak
and clicking tongues\dots{}\forcelinebreak
publicity of windows\forcelinebreak
stoning me with pent-up cries\dots{}\forcelinebreak
smells of abattoirs\dots{}\forcelinebreak
smells of long-dead meat.

Some day-end—\forcelinebreak
while the sand is yet cozy as a blanket\forcelinebreak
off the warm body of a squaw,\forcelinebreak
and the jaguars are out to kill\dots{}\forcelinebreak
with a blue-black night coming on\forcelinebreak
and a painted cloud\forcelinebreak
stalking the first star—\forcelinebreak
I shall go alone into the Silence\dots{}\forcelinebreak
the coiled Silence\dots{}\forcelinebreak
where a cry can run only a little way\forcelinebreak
and waver and dwindle\forcelinebreak
and be lost.

And there\dots{}\forcelinebreak
where tiny antlers clinch and strain\forcelinebreak
as life grapples in a million avid points,\forcelinebreak
and threshing things\forcelinebreak
strike and die,\forcelinebreak
letting their hate live on\forcelinebreak
in the spreading purple of a wound\dots{}\forcelinebreak
I too\forcelinebreak
will make covert of a crevice in the night,\forcelinebreak
and turn and watch\dots{}\forcelinebreak
nose at the cleft’s edge.
\end{verse}

\chapter{Wild Duck}



\begin{verse}

\end{verse}

\section{I}



\begin{verse}
That was a great night we spied upon\forcelinebreak
See-sawing home,\forcelinebreak
Singing a hot sweet song to the super-stars\forcelinebreak
Shuffling off behind the smoke-haze\dots{}\forcelinebreak
Fog-horns sentimentalizing on the river\dots{}\forcelinebreak
Lights dwindling to shining slits\forcelinebreak
In the wet asphalt\dots{}\forcelinebreak
Purring lights\dots{} red and green and golden-whiskered\dots{}\forcelinebreak
Digging daintily pointed claws in the soft mud\dots{}\forcelinebreak
\dots{} But you did not know\dots{}\forcelinebreak
As the trains made golden augers\forcelinebreak
Boring in the darkness\dots{}\forcelinebreak
How my heart kept racing out along the rails,\forcelinebreak
As a spider runs along a thread\forcelinebreak
And hauls him in again\forcelinebreak
To some drawing point\dots{}\forcelinebreak
You did not know\forcelinebreak
How wild ducks’ wings\forcelinebreak
Itch at dawn\dots{}\forcelinebreak
How at dawn the necks of wild ducks\forcelinebreak
Arch to the sun\forcelinebreak
And new-mown air\forcelinebreak
Trickles sweet in their gullets.
\end{verse}

\section{II}



\begin{verse}
As water, cleared of the reflection of a bird\forcelinebreak
That has lately flown across it,\forcelinebreak
Yet trembles with the beating of its wings,\forcelinebreak
So my soul\dots{} emptied of the known you\dots{} utterly\dots{}\forcelinebreak
Is yet vibrant with the cadence of the song\forcelinebreak
You might have been\dots{}\forcelinebreak
‘Twas a great night\dots{}\forcelinebreak
With never a waste look over a shoulder\forcelinebreak
Curved to the crook of the wind\dots{}\forcelinebreak
And a great word we threw\forcelinebreak
For memory to play knuckles with\dots{}\forcelinebreak
A word the waters of the world have washed,\forcelinebreak
Leaving it stark and without smell\dots{}\forcelinebreak
A world that rattles well in emptiness: Good-by.
\end{verse}

\chapter{The Dream}



\begin{verse}
I have a dream\forcelinebreak
to fill the golden sheath\forcelinebreak
of a remembered day\dots{}\forcelinebreak
(Air\forcelinebreak
heavy and massed and blue\forcelinebreak
as the vapor of opium\dots{}\forcelinebreak
domes\forcelinebreak
fired in sulphurous mist\dots{}\forcelinebreak
sea\forcelinebreak
quiescent as a gray seal\dots{}\forcelinebreak
and the emerging sun\forcelinebreak
spurting up gold\forcelinebreak
over Sydney, smoke-pale, rising out of the bay\dots{})\forcelinebreak
But the day is an up-turned cup\forcelinebreak
and its sun a junk of red iron\forcelinebreak
guttering in sluggish-green water—\forcelinebreak
where shall I pour my dream?
\end{verse}

\chapter{Altitude}



\begin{verse}
I wonder\forcelinebreak
how it would be here with you,\forcelinebreak
where the wind\forcelinebreak
that has shaken off its dust in low valleys\forcelinebreak
touches one cleanly,\forcelinebreak
as with a new-washed hand,\forcelinebreak
and pain\forcelinebreak
is as the remote hunger of droning things,\forcelinebreak
and anger\forcelinebreak
but a little silence\forcelinebreak
sinking into the great silence.
\end{verse}

\chapter{Comrades}



\begin{verse}
Life\forcelinebreak
You have been good to me\dots{}\forcelinebreak
You have not made yourself too dear\forcelinebreak
to juggle with.
\end{verse}

\chapter{Nocturne}



\begin{verse}
Indigo bulb of darkness\forcelinebreak
Punctured by needle lights\forcelinebreak
Through a fissure of brick canyon shutting out stars,\forcelinebreak
And a sliver of moon\forcelinebreak
Spigoting two high windows over the West river\dots{}

Boy, I met to-night,\forcelinebreak
Your eyes are two red-glowing arcs shifting with my vision\dots{}\forcelinebreak
They reflect as in a fading proof\forcelinebreak
The deadened eyes of a woman,\forcelinebreak
And your shed virginity,\forcelinebreak
Light as the withered pod of a sweet pea,\forcelinebreak
Moist and fragrant\forcelinebreak
Blows against my soul.\forcelinebreak
What are you to me, boy,\forcelinebreak
That I, who have passed so many lights,\forcelinebreak
Should carry your eyes\forcelinebreak
Like swinging lanterns?
\end{verse}

\chapter{Cactus Seed}



\begin{verse}
Radiant notes\forcelinebreak
piercing my narrow-chested room,\forcelinebreak
beating down through my ceiling—\forcelinebreak
smeared with unshapen\forcelinebreak
belly-prints of dreams\forcelinebreak
drifted out of old smokes—\forcelinebreak
trillions of icily\forcelinebreak
peltering notes\forcelinebreak
out of just one canary,\forcelinebreak
all grown to song\forcelinebreak
as a plant to its stalk,\forcelinebreak
from too long craning at a sky-light\forcelinebreak
and a square of second-hand blue.

Silvery-strident throat—\forcelinebreak
so assiduously serenading my brain,\forcelinebreak
flinching under\forcelinebreak
the glittering hail of your notes—\forcelinebreak
were you not safe behind\dots{} rats know what thickness of\dots{} plastered wall\dots{}\forcelinebreak
I might fathom\forcelinebreak
your golden delirium\forcelinebreak
with throttle of finger and thumb\forcelinebreak
shutting valve of bright song.
\end{verse}

\section{II}



\begin{verse}
But if\dots{} away off\dots{} on a fork of grassed earth\forcelinebreak
socketing an inlet reach of blue water\dots{}\forcelinebreak
if canaries (do they sing out of cages?)\forcelinebreak
flung such luminous notes,\forcelinebreak
they would sink in the spirit\dots{}\forcelinebreak
lie germinal\dots{}\forcelinebreak
housed in the soul as a seed in the earth\dots{}\forcelinebreak
to break forth at spring with the crocuses into young smiles\forcelinebreak
~~~on the mouth.\forcelinebreak
Or glancing off buoyantly,\forcelinebreak
radiate notes in one key\forcelinebreak
with the sparkle of rain-drops\forcelinebreak
on the petal of a cactus flower\forcelinebreak
focusing the just-out sun.

Cactus\dots{} why cactus?\forcelinebreak
God\dots{} God\dots{}\forcelinebreak
somewhere\dots{} away off\dots{}\forcelinebreak
cactus flowers, star-yellow\forcelinebreak
ray out of spiked green,\forcelinebreak
and empties of sky\forcelinebreak
roll you over and over\forcelinebreak
like a mother her baby in long grass.\forcelinebreak
And only the wind scandal-mongers with gum trees,\forcelinebreak
pricking multiple leaves\forcelinebreak
at his amazing story.
\end{verse}

\part{Windows}

\chapter{Time-Stone}



\begin{verse}
Hallo, Metropolitan—\forcelinebreak
Ubiquitous windows staring all ways,\forcelinebreak
Red eye notching the darkness.\forcelinebreak
No use to ogle that slip of a moon.\forcelinebreak
This midnight the moon,\forcelinebreak
Playing virgin after all her encounters,\forcelinebreak
Will break another date with you.\forcelinebreak
You fuss an awful lot,\forcelinebreak
You flight of ledger books,\forcelinebreak
Overrun with multiple ant-black figures\forcelinebreak
Dancing on spindle legs\forcelinebreak
An interminable can-can.\forcelinebreak
But I’d rather\dots{} like the cats in the alley\dots{} count time\forcelinebreak
By the silver whistle of a moonbeam\forcelinebreak
Falling between my stoop-shouldered walls,\forcelinebreak
Than all your tally of the sunsets,\forcelinebreak
Metropolitan, ticking among stars.
\end{verse}

\chapter{Train Window}



\begin{verse}
Small towns\forcelinebreak
Crawling out of their green shirts\dots{}\forcelinebreak
Tubercular towns\forcelinebreak
Coughing a little in the dawn\dots{}\forcelinebreak
And the church\dots{}\forcelinebreak
There is always a church\forcelinebreak
With its natty spire\forcelinebreak
And the vestibule—\forcelinebreak
That’s where they whisper:\forcelinebreak
Tzz-tzz\dots{} tzz-tzz\dots{} tzz-tzz\dots{}\forcelinebreak
How many codes for a wireless whisper—\forcelinebreak
And corn flatter than it should be\forcelinebreak
And those chits of leaves\forcelinebreak
Gadding with every wind?\forcelinebreak
Small towns\forcelinebreak
From Connecticut to Maine:\forcelinebreak
Tzz-tzz\dots{} tzz-tzz\dots{}tzz-tzz\dots{}
\end{verse}

\chapter{Scandal}



\begin{verse}
Aren’t there bigger things to talk about\forcelinebreak
Than a window in Greenwich Village\forcelinebreak
And hyacinths sprouting\forcelinebreak
Like little puce poems out of a sick soul?\forcelinebreak
Some cosmic hearsay—\forcelinebreak
As to whom—it can’t be Mars! put the moon—that way\dots{}\forcelinebreak
Or what winds do to canyons\forcelinebreak
Under the tall stars\dots{}\forcelinebreak
Or even\forcelinebreak
How that old roué, Neptune,\forcelinebreak
Cranes over his bald-head moons\forcelinebreak
At the twinkling heel of a sky-scraper.
\end{verse}

\chapter{Electricity}



\begin{verse}
Out of fiery contacts\dots{}\forcelinebreak
Rushing auras of steel\forcelinebreak
Touching and whirled apart\dots{}\forcelinebreak
Out of the charged phallases\forcelinebreak
Of iron leaping\forcelinebreak
Female and male,\forcelinebreak
Complete, indivisible, one,\forcelinebreak
Fused into light.
\end{verse}

\chapter{Skyscrapers}



\begin{verse}
Skyscrapers\dots{} remote, unpartisan\dots{}\forcelinebreak
Turning neither to the right nor left\forcelinebreak
Your imperturbable fronts\dots{}\forcelinebreak
Austerely greeting the sun\forcelinebreak
With one chilly finger of stone\dots{}\forcelinebreak
I know your secrets\dots{} better than all the policemen\forcelinebreak
~~~like fat blue mullet along the avenues.
\end{verse}

\chapter{Wall Street at Night}



\begin{verse}
Long vast shapes\dots{} cooled and flushed through with darkness\dots{}\forcelinebreak
Lidless windows\forcelinebreak
Glazed with a flashy luster\forcelinebreak
From some little pert cafe chirping up like a sparrow.\forcelinebreak
And down among iron guts\forcelinebreak
Piled silver\forcelinebreak
Throwing gray spatter of light\dots{} pale without heat\dots{}\forcelinebreak
Like the pallor of dead bodies.
\end{verse}

\chapter{East River}



\begin{verse}
Dour river\forcelinebreak
Jaded with monotony of lights\forcelinebreak
Diving off mast heads\dots{}\forcelinebreak
Lights mad with creating in a river\dots{} turning its sullen back\dots{}\forcelinebreak
Heave up, river\dots{}\forcelinebreak
Vomit back into the darkness your spawn of light\dots{}\forcelinebreak
The night will gut what you give her.
\end{verse}

\part{Secrets}

\chapter{Interim}



\begin{verse}
The earth is motionless\forcelinebreak
And poised in space\dots{}\forcelinebreak
A great bird resting in its flight\forcelinebreak
Between the alleys of the stars.\forcelinebreak
It is the wind’s hour off\dots{}\forcelinebreak
The wind has nestled down among the corn\dots{}\forcelinebreak
The two speak privately together,\forcelinebreak
Awaiting the whirr of wings.
\end{verse}

\chapter{After Storm}



\begin{verse}
Was there a wind?\forcelinebreak
Tap\dots{} tap\dots{}\forcelinebreak
Night pads upon the snow\forcelinebreak
with moccasined feet\dots{}\forcelinebreak
and it is still\dots{} so still\dots{}\forcelinebreak
an eagle’s feather\forcelinebreak
might fall like a stone.\forcelinebreak
Could there have been a storm\dots{}\forcelinebreak
mad-tossing golden mane on the neck of the wind\dots{}\forcelinebreak
tearing up the sky\dots{}\forcelinebreak
loose-flapping like a tent\forcelinebreak
about the ice-capped stars?

Cool, sheer and motionless\forcelinebreak
the frosted pines\forcelinebreak
are jeweled with a million flaming points\forcelinebreak
that fling their beauty up in long white sheaves\forcelinebreak
till they catch hands with stars.\forcelinebreak
Could there have been a wind\forcelinebreak
that haled them by the hair\dots{}\forcelinebreak
and blinding\forcelinebreak
blue-forked\forcelinebreak
flowers of the lightning\forcelinebreak
in their leaves?\forcelinebreak
Tap\dots{} tap\dots{}\forcelinebreak
slow-ticking centuries\dots{}\forcelinebreak
Soft as bare feet upon the snow\dots{}\forcelinebreak
faint\dots{} lulling as heard rain\forcelinebreak
upon heaped leaves\dots{}\forcelinebreak
Silence\forcelinebreak
builds her wall\forcelinebreak
about a dream impaled.
\end{verse}

\chapter{Secrets}



\begin{verse}
Secrets\forcelinebreak
infesting my half-sleep\dots{}\forcelinebreak
did you enter my wound from another wound\forcelinebreak
brushing mine in a crowd\dots{}\forcelinebreak
or did I snare you on my sharper edges\forcelinebreak
as a bird flying through cobwebbed trees at sun-up\forcelinebreak
carries off spiders on its wings?

Secrets,\forcelinebreak
running over my soul without sound,\forcelinebreak
only when dawn comes tip-toeing\forcelinebreak
ushered by a suave wind,\forcelinebreak
and dreams disintegrate\forcelinebreak
like breath shapes in frosty air,\forcelinebreak
I shall overhear you, bare-foot,\forcelinebreak
scatting off into the darkness\dots{}\forcelinebreak
I shall know you, secrets\forcelinebreak
by the litter you have left\forcelinebreak
and by your bloody foot-prints.
\end{verse}

\chapter{Potpourri}



\begin{verse}
Do you remember\forcelinebreak
Honey-melon moon\forcelinebreak
Dripping thick sweet light\forcelinebreak
Where Canal Street saunters off by herself among quiet trees?\forcelinebreak
And the faint decayed patchouli—\forcelinebreak
Fragrance of New Orleans\forcelinebreak
Like a dead tube rose\forcelinebreak
Upheld in the warm air\dots{}\forcelinebreak
Miraculously whole.
\end{verse}

\chapter{Thaw}



\begin{verse}
Blow through me wind\forcelinebreak
As you blow through apple blossoms\dots{}\forcelinebreak
Scatter me in shining petals over the passers-by\dots{}\forcelinebreak
Joyously I reunite\dots{} sway and gather to myself\dots{}\forcelinebreak
Sedately I walk by the dancing feet of children—\forcelinebreak
Not knowing I too dance over the cobbled spring.\forcelinebreak
O, but they laugh back at me,\forcelinebreak
(Eyes like daisies smiling wide open),\forcelinebreak
And we both look askance at the snowed-in people\forcelinebreak
Thinking me one of them.
\end{verse}

\part{Portraits}

\chapter{Mother}

\section{I}



\begin{verse}
Your love was like moonlight\forcelinebreak
turning harsh things to beauty,\forcelinebreak
so that little wry souls\forcelinebreak
reflecting each other obliquely\forcelinebreak
as in cracked mirrors\dots{}\forcelinebreak
beheld in your luminous spirit\forcelinebreak
their own reflection,\forcelinebreak
transfigured as in a shining stream,\forcelinebreak
and loved you for what they are not.

You are less an image in my mind\forcelinebreak
than a luster\forcelinebreak
I see you in gleams\forcelinebreak
pale as star-light on a gray wall\dots{}\forcelinebreak
evanescent as the reflection of a white swan\forcelinebreak
shimmering in broken water.
\end{verse}

\section{II}


(To E. S.)



\begin{verse}
You inevitable,\forcelinebreak
Unwieldy with enormous births,\forcelinebreak
Lying on your back, eyes open, sucking down stars,\forcelinebreak
Or you kissing and picking over fresh deaths\dots{}\forcelinebreak
Filth\dots{} worms\dots{} flowers\dots{}\forcelinebreak
Green and succulent pods\dots{}\forcelinebreak
Tremulous gestation\forcelinebreak
Of dark water germinal with lilies\dots{}\forcelinebreak
All in you from the beginning\dots{}\forcelinebreak
Nothing buried or thrown away\dots{}\forcelinebreak
Only the moon like a white sheet\forcelinebreak
Spread over the dead you carry.
\end{verse}

\section{III}


(To H.)



\begin{verse}
Speeding gull\forcelinebreak
Passing under a cloud\forcelinebreak
Caught on his white back\forcelinebreak
You\dots{} drop of crystal rain.\forcelinebreak
Now you gleam softly triumphant\forcelinebreak
Folding immensities of light.
\end{verse}

\section{IV}


(To O. F. T.)



\begin{verse}
You have always gotten up after blows\forcelinebreak
And smiled\dots{} and shaken off the dust\dots{}\forcelinebreak
Only you could not shake the darkness\forcelinebreak
From off the bruised brown of your eyes.
\end{verse}

\section{V}


(To E. A. R.)



\begin{verse}
Centuries shall not deflect\forcelinebreak
nor many suns\forcelinebreak
absorb your stream,\forcelinebreak
flowing immune and cold\forcelinebreak
between the banks of snow.\forcelinebreak
Nor any wind\forcelinebreak
carry the dust of cities\forcelinebreak
to your high waters\forcelinebreak
that arise out of the peaks\forcelinebreak
and return again into the mountain\forcelinebreak
and never descend.
\end{verse}

\part{Sons of Belial}

\chapter{Sons of Belial}

\section{I}



\begin{verse}
We are old,\forcelinebreak
Old as song.\forcelinebreak
Before Rome was\forcelinebreak
Or Cyrene.\forcelinebreak
Mad nights knew us\forcelinebreak
And old men’s wives.\forcelinebreak
We knew who spilled the sacred oil\forcelinebreak
For young-gold harlots of the town\dots{}\forcelinebreak
We knew where the peacocks went\forcelinebreak
And the white doe for sacrifice.
\end{verse}

\section{II}



\begin{verse}
We were the Sons of Belial.\forcelinebreak
One black night\forcelinebreak
Centuries ago\forcelinebreak
We beat at a door\forcelinebreak
In Gilead\dots{}\forcelinebreak
We took the Levite’s concubine\forcelinebreak
We plucked her hands from off the door\dots{}\forcelinebreak
We choked the cry into her throat\forcelinebreak
And stuck the stars among her hair\dots{}\forcelinebreak
We glimpsed the madly swaying stars\forcelinebreak
Between the rhythms of her hair\forcelinebreak
And all our mute and separate strings\forcelinebreak
Swelled in a raging symphony\dots{}\forcelinebreak
Our blood sang paeans\forcelinebreak
All that night\forcelinebreak
Till dawn fell like a wounded swan\forcelinebreak
Upon the fields of Gilead.
\end{verse}

\section{III}



\begin{verse}
We are old\dots{}\forcelinebreak
Old as song\dots{}\forcelinebreak
We are dumb song.\forcelinebreak
(Epics tingled\forcelinebreak
In our blood\forcelinebreak
When we haled Hypatia\forcelinebreak
Over the stones\forcelinebreak
In Alexandria.)

Could we loose\forcelinebreak
The wild rhythms clinched in us\dots{}\forcelinebreak
March in bands of troubadours\dots{}\forcelinebreak
We would be of gentle mood.\forcelinebreak
When Christ healed us\forcelinebreak
Who were dumb—\forcelinebreak
When he freed our shut-in song—\forcelinebreak
We strewed green palms\forcelinebreak
At his pale feet\dots{}\forcelinebreak
We sang hosannas\forcelinebreak
In Jerusalem.\forcelinebreak
And all our fumbling voices blent\forcelinebreak
In a brief white harmony.\forcelinebreak
(But a mightier song\forcelinebreak
Was in us pent\forcelinebreak
When we nailed Christ\forcelinebreak
To a four-armed tree.)
\end{verse}

\section{IV}



\begin{verse}
We are young.\forcelinebreak
When we rise up with singing roots,\forcelinebreak
(Warm rains washing\forcelinebreak
Gutters of Berlin\forcelinebreak
Where we stamped Rosa\dots{} Luxemburg\forcelinebreak
On a night in spring.)\forcelinebreak
Rhythms skurry in our blood.\forcelinebreak
Little nimble rats of song\forcelinebreak
In our feet run crazily\forcelinebreak
And all is dust\dots{} we trample\dots{} on.

Mad nights when we make ritual\forcelinebreak
(Feet running before the sleuth-light\dots{}\forcelinebreak
And the smell of burnt flesh\forcelinebreak
By a flame-ringed hut\forcelinebreak
In Missouri,\forcelinebreak
Sweet as on Rome’s pyre\dots{})\forcelinebreak
We make ropes do rigadoons\forcelinebreak
With copper feet that jig on air\dots{}\forcelinebreak
We are the Mob\dots{}\forcelinebreak
Old as song.\forcelinebreak
Tyre knew us\forcelinebreak
And Israel.
\end{verse}

\part{Reveille}

\chapter{In Harness}

\section{I}



\begin{verse}
The foreman’s head\forcelinebreak
slowly circling\dots{}\forcelinebreak
White rims\forcelinebreak
under yellow disks of eyes\dots{}\forcelinebreak
Gold hairs\forcelinebreak
starting out of a blond scowl\dots{}\forcelinebreak
Hovering\dots{} disappearing\dots{} recurring\dots{}\forcelinebreak
the foreman’s head.

Droning of power-machines\dots{}\forcelinebreak
droning of girl with adenoids\dots{}\forcelinebreak
Arms flapping with a fin-like motion\forcelinebreak
under sun burning down through a sky-light like a glass lid.\forcelinebreak
Light skating on the rims of wheels\dots{}\forcelinebreak
boring in gimlet points.\forcelinebreak
Needles flickering\forcelinebreak
fierce white threads of light\forcelinebreak
fine as a wasp’s sting.\forcelinebreak
Light in sweat-drops brighter than eyes\forcelinebreak
and calico-pallid faces\forcelinebreak
and bodies throwing off smells—\forcelinebreak
and the air a bloated presence pressing on the walls\forcelinebreak
and the silence a compressed scream.

Allons enfants de la patrie—\forcelinebreak
Electric\dots{} piercing\dots{} shrill as a fife\forcelinebreak
the voice of a little Russian\forcelinebreak
breaks out of the shivered circle.\forcelinebreak
Another voice rises\dots{} another and another\forcelinebreak
leaps like flame to flame.\forcelinebreak
And life—surging, clamorous, swarming like a rabble\forcelinebreak
~~~crazily fluttering ragged petticoats—\forcelinebreak
comes rushing back into torpid eyes\forcelinebreak
like suddenly yielded gates.

The girl with adenoids\forcelinebreak
rocks on her hams.\forcelinebreak
A torrent of song\forcelinebreak
strains at her throat,\forcelinebreak
gurgles, rushes, gouges her blocked pipes.\forcelinebreak
Her feet beat a wild tattoo—\forcelinebreak
head flung back and pelvis lifting\forcelinebreak
to the white body of the sun.\forcelinebreak
Mates now, these two—\forcelinebreak
goddess and god\dots{}\forcelinebreak
Marchons!

Only the power machines drone\forcelinebreak
with metallic docility\forcelinebreak
under the flaxen head of the foreman\forcelinebreak
poised like an amazed gull.
\end{verse}

\section{II}



\begin{verse}
To-day\forcelinebreak
little French merchant men\forcelinebreak
with pointed beards\forcelinebreak
and fat American merchant men\forcelinebreak
without any beards\forcelinebreak
drive to a feast of buttered squabs.\forcelinebreak
The band\dots{} accoutered and neatly caparisoned\dots{}\forcelinebreak
~~~plays the Marseillaise\dots{}\forcelinebreak
And I think of a wild stallion\dots{} newly caught\dots{}\forcelinebreak
flanks yet taut and nostrils spread\forcelinebreak
to the smell of a racing mare,\forcelinebreak
hitched to a grocer’s cart.
\end{verse}

\chapter{Reveille}



\begin{verse}
Come forth, you workers!\forcelinebreak
Let the fires go cold—\forcelinebreak
Let the iron spill out, out of the troughs—\forcelinebreak
Let the iron run wild\forcelinebreak
Like a red bramble on the floors—\forcelinebreak
Leave the mill and the foundry and the mine\forcelinebreak
And the shrapnel lying on the wharves—\forcelinebreak
Leave the desk and the shuttle and the loom—\forcelinebreak
Come,\forcelinebreak
With your ashen lives,\forcelinebreak
Your lives like dust in your hands.

I call upon you, workers.\forcelinebreak
It is not yet light\forcelinebreak
But I beat upon your doors.\forcelinebreak
You say you await the Dawn\forcelinebreak
But I say you are the Dawn.\forcelinebreak
Come, in your irresistible unspent force\forcelinebreak
And make new light upon the mountains.

You have turned deaf ears to others—\forcelinebreak
Me you shall hear.\forcelinebreak
Out of the mouths of turbines,\forcelinebreak
Out of the turgid throats of engines,\forcelinebreak
Over the whistling steam,\forcelinebreak
You shall hear me shrilly piping.\forcelinebreak
Your mills I shall enter like the wind,\forcelinebreak
And blow upon your hearts,\forcelinebreak
Kindling the slow fire.

They think they have tamed you, workers—\forcelinebreak
Beaten you to a tool\forcelinebreak
To scoop up hot honor\forcelinebreak
Till it be cool—\forcelinebreak
But out of the passion of the red frontiers\forcelinebreak
A great flower trembles and burns and glows\forcelinebreak
And each of its petals is a people.

Come forth, you workers—\forcelinebreak
Clinging to your stable\forcelinebreak
And your wisp of warm straw—\forcelinebreak
Let the fires grow cold,\forcelinebreak
Let the iron spill out of the troughs,\forcelinebreak
Let the iron run wild\forcelinebreak
Like a red bramble on the floors\dots{}

As our forefathers stood on the prairies\forcelinebreak
So let us stand in a ring,\forcelinebreak
Let us tear up their prisons like grass\forcelinebreak
And beat them to barricades—\forcelinebreak
Let us meet the fire of their guns\forcelinebreak
With a greater fire,\forcelinebreak
Till the birds shall fly to the mountains\forcelinebreak
For one safe bough.
\end{verse}

\chapter{To Alexander Berkman}



\begin{verse}
Can you see me, Sasha?\forcelinebreak
I can see you\dots{}\forcelinebreak
A tentacle of the vast dawn is resting on your face\forcelinebreak
that floats as though detached\forcelinebreak
in a sultry and greenish vapor.\forcelinebreak
I cannot reach my hands to you\dots{}\forcelinebreak
would not if I could,\forcelinebreak
though I know how warmly yours would close about them.\forcelinebreak
Why?\forcelinebreak
I do not know\dots{}\forcelinebreak
I have a sense of shame.\forcelinebreak
Your eyes hurt me\dots{} mysterious openings in the gray stone of your face\forcelinebreak
through which your spirit streams out taut as a flag\forcelinebreak
bearing strange symbols to the new dawn.

If I stay\dots{} projected, trembling against these bars filtering\forcelinebreak
~~~emaciated light\dots{}\forcelinebreak
will your eyes\dots{} that bore their lonely way through mine\dots{}\forcelinebreak
stop as at a friendly gate\dots{}\forcelinebreak
grow warm\dots{} and luminous?\forcelinebreak
\dots{} but I cannot stay\dots{} for the smell\dots{}\forcelinebreak
I know\dots{} how the days pass\dots{}\forcelinebreak
The prison squats\forcelinebreak
with granite haunches\forcelinebreak
on the young spring,\forcelinebreak
battened under with its twisting green\dots{}\forcelinebreak
and you\dots{} socket for every bolt\forcelinebreak
piercing like a driven nail.\forcelinebreak
Eyes stare you through the bars\dots{}\forcelinebreak
eyes blank as a graveled yard\dots{}\forcelinebreak
and the silence shuffles heavy dice of feet in iron corridors\dots{}\forcelinebreak
until the day\dots{} that has soiled herself in this black hole\forcelinebreak
to caress the pale mask of your face\dots{}\forcelinebreak
withdraws the last wizened ray\forcelinebreak
to wash in the infinite\forcelinebreak
her discolored hands.\forcelinebreak
Can you hear me, Sasha,\forcelinebreak
in your surrounded darkness?
\end{verse}

\chapter{Emma Goldman}



\begin{verse}
How should they appraise you,\forcelinebreak
who walk up close to you\forcelinebreak
as to a mountain,\forcelinebreak
each proclaiming his own eyeful\forcelinebreak
against the other’s eyeful.

Only time\forcelinebreak
standing well off\forcelinebreak
shall measure your circumference and height.
\end{verse}

\chapter{An Old Workman}



\begin{verse}
Warped\dots{} gland-dry\dots{}\forcelinebreak
With spine askew\forcelinebreak
And body shrunken into half its space\dots{}\forcelinebreak
Well-used as some cracked paving-stone\dots{}\forcelinebreak
Bearing on his grimed and pitted front\forcelinebreak
A stamp\dots{} as of innumerable feet.
\end{verse}

\chapter{To Larkin}



\begin{verse}
Is it you I see go by the window, Jim Larkin—you not looking\forcelinebreak
~~~at me nor any one,\forcelinebreak
And your shadow swaying from East to West?\forcelinebreak
Strange that you should be walking free—you shut down without light,\forcelinebreak
And your legs tied up with a knot of iron.

One hundred million men and women go inevitably about their affairs,\forcelinebreak
In the somnolent way\forcelinebreak
Of men before a great drunkenness\dots{}\forcelinebreak
They do not see you go by their windows, Jim Larkin,\forcelinebreak
With your eyes bloody as the sunset\forcelinebreak
And your shadow gaunt upon the sky\dots{}\forcelinebreak
You, and the like of you, that life\forcelinebreak
Is crushing for their frantic wines.
\end{verse}

\chapter{Wind Rising in the Alleys}



\begin{verse}
Wind rising in the alleys\forcelinebreak
My spirit lifts in you like a banner streaming free of hot walls.\forcelinebreak
You are full of unspent dreams\dots{}\forcelinebreak
You are laden with beginnings\dots{}\forcelinebreak
There is hope in you\dots{} not sweet\dots{} acrid as blood in the mouth.\forcelinebreak
Come into my tossing dust\forcelinebreak
Scattering the peace of old deaths,\forcelinebreak
Wind rising in the alleys,\forcelinebreak
Carrying stuff of flame.
\end{verse}




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The Anarchist Library



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Lola Ridge

Sun-Up and Other Poems






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