released April 30, 2019

PULL DOWN THY VANITY

What thou lovest well remains,
the rest is dross
What thou lov’st well shall not be reft from thee
What thou lov’st well is thy true heritage
Whose world, or mine or theirs
or is it of none?
First came the seen, then thus the palpable
Elysium, though it were in the halls of hell,
What thou lovest well is thy true heritage
What thou lov’st well shall not be reft from thee
The ant’s a centaur in his dragon world.
Pull down thy vanity

it is not man
Made courage, or made order, or made grace,
Pull down thy vanity, I say pull down.
Pull down thy vanity, I say pull down.

Learn of the green world what can be thy place
In scaled invention or true artistry,
Pull down thy vanity,
Paquin pull down!
The green casque has outdone your elegance.

Pull down thy vanity, I say pull down.

Thou art a beaten dog beneath the hail,
A swollen magpie in a fitful sun,
Half black half white
Nor knowst’ou wing from tail
Pull down thy vanity
How mean thy hates
Fostered in falsity,
Pull down thy vanity,
Rathe to destroy, niggard in charity,
Pull down thy vanity,
I say pull down.

(Extractos del "Canto LXXXI")


SESTINA: ALTAFORTE

When I see him so scorn
clash
And it fills all my heart with rejoicing
And prys wide my
Damn it all!

You whoreson dog, Papiols, come! Let’s to music!
I have no life save when the swords clash.
But ah! when I see the standards gold, vair, purple, opposing
And the broad fields beneath them turn crimson,
Then howl I my heart nigh mad with rejoicing

rejoicing
When the tempests kill the earth’s foul peace,
And the light’nings from black heav’n flash crimson,

And the winds shriek through the clouds mad, opposing,
And through all the riven skies God’s swords clash.
Hell grant soon we hear again the swords clash!
And the shrill neighs of destriers in battle rejoicing,

Spiked breast to spiked breast

Damn it all!

(Extractos de "Sestina: Altaforte")


ENVOI

Go, dumb-born book,
Tell her that sang me once that song of Lawes:
Hadst thou but song
As thou hast subjects known,
Then were there cause in thee that should condone

(Extracto de "Envoi")


STUBBORN AS A MULE

8th October:
Si tuit li dolh el plor
Angold teznike
tuit lo pro, tuit lo bes
Angold teznike

this day October the whateverth Mr Coxie
aged 91 has mentioned bonds and their interest
Bartók has left us
and Mr Beard in his admirable condensation
(Mr Chas. Beard) has given one line

An' doan you think he chop an' change all the time
stubborn az a mule, sah, stubborn as a MULE,
An' doan you think he chop an' change all the time
stubborn az a mule, sah, stubborn as a MULE

Under white clouds, cielo di Pisa
out of all this beauty something must come

O moon my pin-up
chronometer
Wei, Chi and Pi-kan
Yin had all these three men full of humanitas (manhood)
or Jin
Xaire Alessandro, Xaire Fernando, e il Capo,
Pierre, Vidkun,
Henriot
and as to gradations
who went out of industrials to Government
when the slump was in the offing
as against whom, prepense, got OUT of Imperial Chemicals
in 1938
so as not to be nourished by blood-bath?

An' doan you think he chop an' change all the time
stubborn az a mule, sah, stubborn as a MULE,
do you think he chop an' change all the time
stubborn az a mule, sah, stubborn as a MULE

eastern idea about money
about money

(Extractos del "Canto LXXXIV")


CANTICO DEL SOLE

thought of what America,
The thought of what America,
The thought of what America would be like
If the Classics had a wide circulation . . .
Oh well!
It troubles my sleep.

thought of what America,
The thought of what America,
The thought of what America would be like
If the Classics had a wide circulation . . .
Oh well!
It troubles my sleep.

And I’d the long ways behind me,
gray Aries and Biaucaire,
And he said, 'Have you seen any of our lot?'
I'd seen a lot of his lot . . .
ever since Rhodez,
Coming down from the fair
of St. John,
With caravans, but never an ape or a bear.

thought of what America,
The thought of what America,
The thought of what America would be like
If the Classics had a wide circulation . . .
Oh well!
It troubles my

thought of what America,
The thought of what America,
The thought of what America would be like
If the Classics had a wide circulation . . .
Oh well!
It troubles my sleep.

(Extractos del "Cantico del Sole" y "The Gipsy")


MOEURS CONTEMPORAINES

Mr. Hecatomb Styrax, the owner of a large estate
and of large muscles,
A "blue" and a climber of mountains, has married
at the age of 28,
He being at that age a virgin,
The term "virgo" being made male in mediaeval latinity;
His ineptitudes
Having driven his wife from one religious excess to another.
She has abandoned the vicar
For he was lacking in vehemence;

When, when, and whenever death closes our eyelids
When, when, and whenever death closes our eyelids

Tigris and Euphrates shall, from now on, flow at his bidding

And that the youngest son was in a publisher's office,
And that the friend of the second daughter was undergoing a novel,
The young American pilgrim
Exclaimed:
'This is a darn'd clever bunch!’

When, when, and whenever death closes our eyelids
When, when, and whenever death closes our eyelids
When, when, and whenever death closes our eyelids
When, when, and whenever death closes our eyelids

(Extractos de "Homage to Sextus Propertius" y "Moeurs Contemporaines")


USURA

is thy bread ever more of stale rags
is thy bread dry as paper,
with no mountain wheat, no strong flour
with usura the line grows thick
with usura is no clear demarcation
and no man can find site for his dwelling.
Stonecutter is kept from his tone
weaver is kept from his loom
with usura
wool comes not to market
sheep bringeth no gain with usura

Usura is a murrain, usura
blunteth the needle in the maid’s hand
and stoppeth the spinner’s cunning
Usura
Usura is a murrain, usura
blunteth the needle in the maid’s hand
and stoppeth the spinner’s cunning
Usura

rusteth the chisel
It rusteth the craft and the craftsman
It gnaweth the thread in the loom
None learneth to weave gold in her pattern;
Azure hath a canker by usura; cramoisi is unbroidered
Emerald findeth no Memling
Usura slayeth the child in the womb
It stayeth the young man’s courting
It hath brought palsey to bed, lyeth
between the young bride (…)

Came not by usura Angelico; came not Ambrogio Praedis,
Came no church of cut stone signed: Adamo me fecit.
Not by usura St. Trophime
Not by usura Saint Hilaire,
Usura rusteth the chisel
It rusteth the craft (…)

Usura
Usura is a murrain, usura
blunteth the needle in the maid’s hand
and stoppeth the spinner’s cunning
Usura
Usura is a murrain, usura
blunteth the needle in the maid’s hand
and stoppeth the spinner’s cunning

Usura
With usura the line grows (…)
Usura
With usura is no clear (…)

(Extractos del "Canto XLV")


AS NEVER BEFORE

These fought, in any case,
and some believing, pro domo, in any case …
Some quick to arm,
some for adventure,
some from fear of weakness,
some from fear of censure,
some for love of slaughter, in imagination,
learning later ...
some in fear, learning love of slaughter;

Died some pro patria, non dulce non et decor” ...
walked eye-deep in hell
believing in old men’s lies, then unbelieving
came home, home to a lie,
home to many deceits,
home to old lies and new infamy;
usury age-old and age-thick
and liars in public places.

Daring as never before, wastage as never before.
Young blood and high blood,
Fair cheeks, and fine bodies;

fortitude as never before

frankness as never before,
disillusions as never told in the old days,
hysterias, trench confessions

There died a myriad,
And of the best, among them,
For an old bitch gone in the teeth,
For a botched civilization.

Charm, smiling at the good mouth,
Quick eyes gone under earth’s lid,

For two gross of broken statues,
For a few thousand battered books.

Gladstone was still respected,
When John Ruskin produced
“Kings Treasuries”; Swinburne
And Rossetti still abused.

Thin like brook-water,
With a vacant gaze.
The English Rubaiyat was still-born
In those days.

Daring as never before, wastage as never before.
Young blood and high blood,
Fair cheeks, and fine bodies;

fortitude as never before

frankness as never before,
disillusions as never told in the old days,
hysterias, trench confessions

laughter out of dead bellies.

(Extractos de "Hugh Selwyn Mauberley")


STATES OF MIND ARE INEXPLICABLE TO US
(δακρυων, δακρυων, δακρυων)

Lay in the soft grass by the cliff’s edge
with the sea 30 meters below this

and at hand’s span, at cubit’s readh moving
the crystalline (…)

As a lone ant from a broken ant-hill
from the wreckage of Europe, ego scriptor

The rain has fallen, the wind coming down
out of the mountain
Lucca, Forti dei Marmi (…)

and a sort of buttercup
et sequelae

Le Paradis n'est pas artificiel
States of mind are inexplicable

to us.
δακρυων δακρυων δακρυων
to us.
δακρυων δακρυων δακρυων
to us.
δακρυων δακρυων δακρυων

This land is of Dione
and under her planet
to Helia the long meadow with poplars
to Kupris the mountain and shut garden
of pear trees in flower

both eyes, the loss of
and to find someone
who speak his own dialect.
We talked of every boy and girl in the valley

and a sort of buttercup
et sequelae

Le Paradis n'est pas artificiel
States of mind are inexplicable

to us.
δακρυων δακρυων δακρυων
to us.
δακρυων δακρυων δακρυων
to us.
δακρυων δακρυων δακρυων

And then went down to the ship,
Set keel to breakers, forth on the godly sea, and
We set up mast and sail on that swart ship,
Bore sheep aboard her, and our bodies also
Heavy (…)

(Extractos del "Canto LXXVI" y del "Canto I")


INTELLECTUS ADEPTUS

Pity spareth so many an evil thing.
Pity befouleth April,
Pity is the root and the spring.
Now if no fayre creature followeth me
(It is on account)
It is on account of Pity

Shines
in the mind of heaven God
who made it
more than the sun
in our eye.
Fifth element; mud; said Napoleon

With usury has no man a good house
made of stone, no paradise on his church wall

the girl's needle goes blunt in her hand
The looms are hushed one after another
ten thousand after ten thousand

Usury rusts the man and his chisel
It destroys the craftsman, destroying craft;
Azure is caught with cancer. Emerald comes to no Memling

Usury kills the child in the womb
And breaks short the young man's courting
Usury brings age into youth; it lies between the bride
and the bridegroom
Usury is against Nature's increase.
Whores for Eleusis;
Under usury no stone is cut smooth
Peasant has no gain from his sheep herd

Blue dun; number 2 in most rivers
for dark days, when it is cold
A starling’s wing will give you the colour
or duck widgeon, if you take feather from under the wing
Let the body be of blue fox fur, or a water rat’s
or grey squirrel’s. Take this with a portion of mohair
and a cock’s hackle for legs.

Deo similis quodam modo
hic intellectus adeptus
Grass; nowhere out of place.
Thus speaking in (…)

Deo similis quodam modo
hic intellectus adeptus
Grass; nowhere out of place.
Thus speaking in (…)

(Extractos del "Canto XXX" y del "Canto LI")


THE EXILES LETTER

Till the blue grass turn yellow
and the yellow leaves float in the air
And Iong Cheng (Canto 61)
of the line of Kang Hi
by the silk cords of the sunlight
non disunia,
2nd year
2nd month
2nd day
Sheng U, the Edict

Each year in the elder spring, that is the first month
of the spring time,
The herald shall incite yr/ compliance
There are six rites for festival
and 7 instructions
that all converge as the root

2nd year
2nd month
2nd day
Sheng U, the Edict

shih solid
mu a pattern
fa laws
kung public
shih solid
mu a pattern
czu private
kung

shih solid
mu a pattern
fa laws
kung public
shih solid
mu a pattern
czu private

great and small

So-Kin of Rakuho, ancient friend, the Chancellor of Gen
Now I remember
That you built me a special tavern,
By the south side of the bridge at Ten-Shin.
With yellow gold and white jewels
we paid for the songs and laughter,
And we were drunk for month after month,
forgetting the kings and princes.
Intelligent men came drifting in, from the sea
and from the west border

shih solid
mu a pattern
fa laws
kung public
shih solid
mu a pattern
czu private
kung

shih solid
mu a pattern
fa laws
kung public
shih solid
mu a pattern
czu private

great and small

shih
mu
fa
kung
shih
mu
czu
kung

shih
mu
fa
kung
shih
mu
czu

(Extractos del "Canto XCIX" y de "The Exiles Letter")


WE CALL ALL FOREIGNERS FRENCHIES

Zeus lies in Ceres’ bosom
Taishan is attended of loves
under Cythera, before sunrise
And he said: “Hay aquí mucho catolicismo
y muy poco reliHion.”
and he said: “Yo creo que los reyes desaparecen”
(Kings will, I think, disappear)
This was Padre José Elizondo
in 1906 and in 1917
or about 1917
and Dolores said: “Come pan, niño,” eat bread, me lad
Sargent had painted her
before he descended
(i.e. if he descended)
but in those days he did thumb sketches,
impressions of the Velázquez in the Museo del Prado
and books cost a peseta,
brass candlesticks in proportion

and in Alcázar
forty years gone, they said: "go back to the station to eat
you can sleep here for a peseta”
goat bells tinkled all night
and the hostess grinned: Eso es luto, haw!
mi marido es muerto

“We call all foreigners frenchies”
“We call all foreigners frenchies”
“We call all foreigners frenchies”

No man at all going the earth's gait,
But age fares against him, his face paleth,
Grey-haired he groaneth, knows gone companions,
Lordly men are to earth o'ergiven,
Nor may he then the flesh-cover, whose life ceaseth,
Nor eat the sweet nor feel the sorry,
Nor stir hand nor think in mid heart,
And though he strew the grave with gold,
His born brothers, their buried bodies
Be an unlikely treasure hoard.

“We call all foreigners frenchies”
“We call all foreigners frenchies”
“We call all foreigners frenchies”

(Extractos del "Canto LXXXI" y "The Seafarer")


THICK, ALL IN MASS

Now
Thick, all in mass
bring drums, bring drums
bring leather drums and play
to T'ang, to T'ang
source of us all, in fane
again, again, pray, pray:
to Tang's heir, a prayer
(...)
Now
Thick, all in mass
bring drums, bring drums
bring leather drums and play
to T'ang, to T'ang
source of us all, in fane
again, again, pray, pray:
to Tang's heir, a prayer
(...)

(Extracto de "Thick, All in Mass" de "The Confucian Odes")