Complete Works of Isaac Rosenberg
Page 13
PSYCHE’S LAMENT
KNOWLEDGE
RAPHAEL
O’ER THE CELESTIAL PATHWAYS
DUST CALLETH TO DUST
TO MICHAEL SHERBROOKE ON HEARING HIS RECITATION OF ‘THE RAVEN’
TWILIGHT II.
AS A BESIEGED CITY
CREATION
GLORY OF HUELESS SKIES
A QUESTION
APPARITION
A CARELESS HEART
THE POET II
THE BLIND GOD
WALK YOU IN MUSIC, LIGHT OR NIGHT
TWILIGHT III
O, BE THESE MEN AND WOMEN
A WARM THOUGHT FLICKERS
SONG
SPRING
ON A LADY SINGING
AS A SWORD IN THE SUN
AT SEA-POINT
O HEART, HOME OF HIGH PURPOSES
OF ANY OLD MAN
INVISIBLE ANCIENT ENEMY OF MINE
AT NIGHT
SUBJECTIVITY
WISTFULLY IN PALLID SPLENDOUR
HAVE WE SAILED AND HAVE WE WANDERED
FAR AWAY
GIRL’S SONG
I KNOW YOU GOLDEN
SACRED, VOLUPTUOUS HOLLOWS DEEP
THE EXILE
MY SOUL IS ROBBED
NIGHT
WHAT IF I WEAR YOUR BEAUTY
DAWN
UNDER THESE SKIES
THE FEMALE GOD
HER FABLED MOUTH
A BIRD TRILLING ITS GAY HEART OUT
SUMMER’S LIPS ARE AGLOW
I HAVE LIVED IN THE UNDERWORLD TOO LONG
I AM THE BLOOD
BEAUTY I
BEAUTY II
AUGURIES
ON RECEIVING NEWS OF THE WAR
THE FLEA
A WOMAN’S BEAUTY
BUT I AM THROWN WITH BEAUTY’S BREATH
IN HALF DELIGHT OF SHY DELIGHT
PAST DAYS ARE HIEROGLYPHS
WHO LOSES THE HOUR OF THE WIND?
DUSK AND THE MIRROR
THE MIRROR
SIGNIFICANCE
WEDDED
MIDSUMMER FROST II.
SLEEP II.
GREEN THOUGHTS ARE
LUSITANIA
THE TROOP SHIP
AUGUST 1914
THE JEW
FROM FRANCE
IN THE TRENCHES
BREAK OF DAY IN THE TRENCHES
HOME-THOUGHTS FROM FRANCE
A WORM FED ON THE HEART OF CORINTH
THE DYING SOLDIER
IN WAR
THE IMMORTALS
LOUSE HUNTING
RETURNING, WE HEAR THE LARKS
DEAD MAN’S DUMP
DAUGHTERS OF WAR
SOLDIER: TWENTIETH CENTURY
GIRL TO SOLDIER ON LEAVE
THE BURNING OF THE TEMPLE
THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM BY THE BABYLONIAN HORDES
THROUGH THESE PALE COLD DAYS
TO WILHELM II
POWER THAT IMPELS
AH, IF YOUR LIPS MIGHT STIR
YOU GAVE ME LEAVE TO LOVE YOU
MY DESIRES ARE AS THE SEA
ART
WHERE THE ROCK’S HEART IS HIDDEN FROM THE SEA
HE WAS MAD…
THE TREES SUFFER THE WIND
IN A CONCENTRATED THOUGHT A SUDDEN NOISE STARTLES
O SPEAR-GIRT FACE TOO FAR
LOVE, HIDE THY FACE — WHY IN THY LAND
HEART, IS THERE HOPE
THE BROODING STONES AND THE DISSOLVING HILLS
THE MONSTER WIND PROWLS IN THE WRITHEN TREES
POETS HAVE SNARED YOU IN SWEET WORD
HER GRAPE GREEN EYES HAVE STAINED IN WEIRD
PALE MOTHER NIGHT, SUCKLING THY BROOD OF STARS
IN ALL LOVE’S HEADY VALOUR AND BOLD PAINS
SENSUAL
BEAUTIFUL IS THE DAY
WOOD AND FOREST, DRINK
I KNOW ALL MEN ARE WITHERED WITH YEARNING
I HAVE HEARD THE GODS
TO J. KRAMER
EVEN AS A LETTER BURNS AND CURLS
THE THRONGING GLORIES RINGING ROUND OUR BIRTH
NATURE, INDEED, THE PLOT YOU SPIN’S SO STALE
FROM YOUR SUNNY CLIME
NOW THINK HOW HIGH A MOUNTAIN IS
VIOLET IS THE MADDEST COLOR I KNOW
DROWSED IN BEAUTY
IN THE MOON’S DARK FANTASY
ALL PLEASURES FLY
AND LIKE THE ARTIST WHO CREATES
FOR ONE THRILLED INSTANT AM I YOU, O SKIES
THE SEARCH
BE THE HOPE OR THE FEAR
WILD UNDERTONES
I HAVE PRESSED MY TEETH IN THE HEART OF MAY
WHAT SONGS DO FILL THE PAUSES OF OUR DAY
IN DIMPLED DEPTHS OF SMILING INNOCENCE
WHAT MAY BE, WHAT HATH BEEN, AND WHAT IS NOW?
THE GRASSES TREMBLE AND QUIVER
SUMMER IN WINTER SIX THOUGHTS
L — AND M —
AMBER EYES WITH EVER SUCH LITTLE RED FIRES
FRAIL HOURS THAT LOVE TO DANCE
THERE ARE SWEET CHAINS THAT BIND
I LIVE FOR YOU
TOM IS SO RESERVED AND QUIET
OVER THE CHASM THEY ROLLED TOGETHER
BRITISH WOMEN! IN YOUR WOMBS YOU PLOTTED
EVENING
LIST OF POEMS IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER
A-D E-H I-L M-O P-S T-V W-Z
A BALLAD OF TIME, LIFE AND MEMORY
A BALLAD OF WHITECHAPEL
A BIRD TRILLING ITS GAY HEART OUT
A CARELESS HEART
A GIRL’S THOUGHTS
A MOOD
A QUESTION
A WARM THOUGHT FLICKERS
A WOMAN’S BEAUTY
A WORM FED ON THE HEART OF CORINTH
AH, IF YOUR LIPS MIGHT STIR
ALL PLEASURES FLY
AMBER EYES WITH EVER SUCH LITTLE RED FIRES
AND LIKE THE ARTIST WHO CREATES
APPARITION
APRIL DAWN
ART
AS A BESIEGED CITY
AS A SWORD IN THE SUN
AS WE LOOK
ASPIRATION
ASPIRATION
AT NIGHT
AT SEA-POINT
AUGURIES
AUGUST 1914
BACCHANAL
BE THE HOPE OR THE FEAR
BEAUTIFUL IS THE DAY
BEAUTY I
BEAUTY II
BIRTHDAY SONG
BREAK IN BY SUBTLER WAYS
BREAK OF DAY IN THE TRENCHES
BRITISH WOMEN! IN YOUR WOMBS YOU PLOTTED
BUT I AM THROWN WITH BEAUTY’S BREATH
CHAGRIN
CREATION
DAUGHTERS OF WAR
DAWN
DAWN BEHIND NIGHT
DAY
DEAD MAN’S DUMP
DEATH
DESIRE SINGS OF IMMORTALITY
DESIRE SINGS OF IMMORTALITY.
DIM-WATERY-LIGHTS, GLEAMING ON GIBBERING FACES
DON JUAN’S SONG
DROWSED IN BEAUTY
DUSK AND THE MIRROR
DUST CALLETH TO DUST
EVEN AS A LETTER BURNS AND CURLS
EVEN NOW YOUR EYES ARE MIXED IN MINE
EVENING
EXPRESSION
FAR AWAY
FLEET STREET
FOR ONE THRILLED INSTANT AM I YOU, O SKIES
FRAIL HOURS THAT LOVE TO DANCE
FROM FRANCE
FROM YOUR SUNNY CLIME
GIRL TO SOLDIER ON LEAVE
GIRL’S SONG
GLORY OF HUELESS SKIES
GOD
GOD LOOKED CLEAR AT ME THROUGH HER EYES
GOD MADE BLIND
GREEN THOUGHTS ARE
HAVE WE SAILED AND HAVE WE WANDERED
HE WAS MAD…
HEART, IS THERE HOPE
HEART’S FIRST WORD
HEART’S FIRST WORD
HER FABLED MOUTH
HER GRAPE GREEN EYES HAVE STAINED IN WEIRD
HOME-THOUG
HTS FROM FRANCE
I AM THE BLOOD
I DID NOT PLUCK AT ALL; OR, FIRST FRUIT
I HAVE HEARD THE GODS
I HAVE LIVED IN THE UNDERWORLD TOO LONG
I HAVE PRESSED MY TEETH IN THE HEART OF MAY
I KNOW ALL MEN ARE WITHERED WITH YEARNING
I KNOW YOU GOLDEN
I LIVE FOR YOU
IF YOU ARE FIRE
IN A CONCENTRATED THOUGHT A SUDDEN NOISE STARTLES
IN ALL LOVE’S HEADY VALOUR AND BOLD PAINS
IN DIMPLED DEPTHS OF SMILING INNOCENCE
IN HALF DELIGHT OF SHY DELIGHT
IN NOVEMBER
IN PICCADILLY
IN THE HEART OF THE FOREST
IN THE MOON’S DARK FANTASY
IN THE PARK
IN THE PARK.
IN THE TRENCHES
IN WAR
INVISIBLE ANCIENT ENEMY OF MINE
KNOWLEDGE
L — AND M —
LADY, YOU ARE MY GOD
LADY, YOU ARE MY GOD
LIKE SOME FAIR SUBTLE POISON
LINES WRITTEN IN AN ALBUM TO J.L.
LOUSE HUNTING
LOVE AND LUST
LOVE TO BE
LOVE, HIDE THY FACE — WHY IN THY LAND
LUSITANIA
MARCHING
MIDSUMMER FROST
MIDSUMMER FROST II.
MY DAYS
MY DESIRES ARE AS THE SEA
MY SONGS
MY SOUL IS ROBBED
MY SOUL IS ROBBED
NATURE, INDEED, THE PLOT YOU SPIN’S SO STALE
NIGHT AND DAY
NIGHT
NIGHT
NOCTURNE
NONE HAVE SEEN THE LORD OF THE HOUSE
NOON IN THE CITY
NOW THE SPIRIT’S SONG HAS WITHERED
NOW THINK HOW HIGH A MOUNTAIN IS
O HEART, HOME OF HIGH PURPOSES
O SPEAR-GIRT FACE TOO FAR
O! IN A WORLD OF MEN AND WOMEN
O, BE THESE MEN AND WOMEN
O’ER THE CELESTIAL PATHWAYS
ODE TO DAVID’S HARP
OF ANY OLD MAN
ON A LADY SINGING
ON RECEIVING NEWS OF THE WAR
OVER THE CHASM THEY ROLLED TOGETHER
PALE MOTHER NIGHT, SUCKLING THY BROOD OF STARS
PART I. FAITH AND FEAR.
PART II. THE CYNIC’S LAMP.
PART III. CHANGE AND SUNFIRE.
PAST DAYS ARE HIEROGLYPHS
PEACE
POETS HAVE SNARED YOU IN SWEET WORD
POWER THAT IMPELS
PSYCHE’S LAMENT
RAPHAEL
RETURNING, WE HEAR THE LARKS
SACRED, VOLUPTUOUS HOLLOWS DEEP
SENSUAL
SIGNIFICANCE
SLEEP
SLEEP II.
SO INNOCENT YOU SPREAD YOUR NET
SOLDIER: TWENTIETH CENTURY
SONG
SPIRITUAL ISOLATION
SPRING
SPRING 1916
SUBJECTIVITY
SUMMER IN WINTER SIX THOUGHTS
SUMMER’S LIPS ARE AGLOW
TESS
THE BLIND GOD
THE BROODING STONES AND THE DISSOLVING HILLS
THE BURNING OF THE TEMPLE
THE CAGE
THE CLOISTER
THE DEAD HEROES
THE DEAD PAST
THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM BY THE BABYLONIAN HORDES
THE DYING SOLDIER
THE EXILE
THE FEMALE GOD
THE FLEA
THE GARDEN OF JOY
THE GRASSES TREMBLE AND QUIVER
THE IMMORTALS
THE JEW
THE KEY OF THE GATES OF HEAVEN
THE MIRROR
THE MONSTER WIND PROWLS IN THE WRITHEN TREES
THE NUN
THE ONE LOST
THE POET
THE POET II
THE PRESENT
THE SEARCH
THE THRONGING GLORIES RINGING ROUND OUR BIRTH
THE TREES SUFFER THE WIND
THE TROOP SHIP
THE WORLD RUMBLES BY ME
THERE ARE SWEET CHAINS THAT BIND
THROUGH THESE PALE COLD DAYS
TO J. H. AMSCHEWITZ
TO J. KRAMER
TO MICHAEL SHERBROOKE ON HEARING HIS RECITATION OF ‘THE RAVEN’
TO MR. AND MRS. LOWY, ON THEIR SILVER WEDDING
TO NATURE
TO WILHELM II
TOM IS SO RESERVED AND QUIET
TWILIGHT I.
TWILIGHT II.
TWILIGHT III
UNDER THESE SKIES
VIOLET IS THE MADDEST COLOR I KNOW
WALK YOU IN MUSIC, LIGHT OR NIGHT
WE ARE SAD WITH A VAGUE SWEET SORROW
WEDDED
WEDDED
WEDDED.
WHAT IF I WEAR YOUR BEAUTY
WHAT MAY BE, WHAT HATH BEEN, AND WHAT IS NOW?
WHAT SONGS DO FILL THE PAUSES OF OUR DAY
WHEN I WENT FORTH
WHERE THE ROCK’S HEART IS HIDDEN FROM THE SEA
WHO LOSES THE HOUR OF THE WIND?
WILD UNDERTONES
WISTFULLY IN PALLID SPLENDOUR
WOOD AND FOREST, DRINK
YOU AND I
YOU GAVE ME LEAVE TO LOVE YOU
ZION
The Plays
St Paul’s Primary School, Whitechapel — Rosenberg attended St. Paul’s School, in Wellclose Square, until his family moved to Stepney in 1900.
MOSES
CONTENTS
PERSONS
SCENE I.
SCENE II.
PERSONS
MOSES, an Egyptian Prince
ABINOAH, an Overseer
TWO HEBREWS
KOELUE, Abinoah’s Daughter
MESSENGER
SCENE I.
Outside a college in Thebes. Egyptian students pass by.
MOSES alone in meditation.
[Enter MESSENGER]
MESSENGER (handing papyrus) Pharaoh’s desires.
MOSES (reads) To our beloved son, greeting. Add to our
thoughts of you, if possible to add, but a little, and you
are more than old heroes. Not to bemean your genius, who
might cry ‘Was that all!’. We pile barriers everywhere.
We give you idiots for tools, tree stumps for swords, skin
sacks for souls. The sixteenth pyramid remains to be built.
We give you the last draft of slaves. Move! Forget not the edict. PHARAOH.
MOSES (to MESSENGER) What is the edict?
MESSENGER. The royal paunch of Pharaoh dangled worriedly,
Not knowing where the wrong. Viands once giant-like
Came to him thin and thinner. What rats gnawed?
Horror! The swarm of slaves. The satraps swore
Their wives’ bones hurt them when they lay abed
That before were soft and plump. The people howled
They’d boil the slaves three days to get their fat,
Ending the famine. A haggard council held
Decrees the two hind molars, those two staunchest
Busy labourers in the belly’s service, to be drawn
From out each slave’s greased mouth, which soon,
From incapacity, would lose the habit
Of eating.
MOSES. Well, should their bones stick out to find the air,
I’ll make a use of them for pleasantness —
Droll demonstrations of anatomy.
MESSENGER. And when you’ve ended find ’twas one on sharks.
[MOSES signs to MESSENGER to go. Exit MESSENGER]
MOSES. Fine! Fine!
See in my brain
What madmen have rushed through,
And like a tornado
Torn up the tight roots
Of some dead universe.
The old clay is broken
For a power to soak in
and knit
It all into tougher tissues
To hold life,
Pricking my nerves till the brain might crack,
It boils to my finger-tips,
Till my hands ache to grip
The hammer — the lone hammer
That breaks lives into a road
Through which my genius drives.
Pharaoh well peruked and oiled,
And your admirable pyramids,
And your interminable procession
Of crowded kings,
You are my little fishing rods
Wherewith I catch the fish
To suit my hungry belly.
I am rough now, and new, and will have no tailor.
Startlingly,
As a mountain side
Wakes aware of its other side,
When from a cave a leopard comes,
On its heels the same red sand,
Springing with acquainted air,
Sprang an intelligence
Coloured as a whim of mine,
Showed to my dull outer eyes
The living eyes underneath.
Did I not shrivel up and take the place of air,
Secret as those eyes were,
And those strong eyes call up a giant frame?
And I am that now.
Pharaoh is sleek and deep;
And where his love for me is set, under
The deeps, on its floor, or in the shallow ways,
Though I have been as a diver — never yet
Could I find... I have a way, a touchstone!
A small misdemeanour, touch of rebelliousness;
To prick the vein of father, monitor, foe,
Will tell which of these his kingship is.
If I shut my eyes to the edict,
And leave the pincers to rust,
And the slaves’ teeth as God made them,
Then hide from the summoning tribunal,
Pharaoh will speak, and I’ll seize that word to act.
Should the word be a foe’s, I can use it well,
As a poison to soak into Egypt’s bowels,
A wraith from old Nile will cry
‘For his mercy they break his back’
And I shall have a great following for this,
The rude touched heart of the mauled sweaty horde,
Their rough tongues fawn at my hands, their red streaked eyes
Glisten with sacrifice. Well! Pharaoh bids me act.
Hah! I’m all a-bristle. Lord! his eyes would go wide
If he knew the road my rampant dreams would race.
I am too much awake now — restless, so restless.
Behind white mists invisibly
My thoughts stood like a mountain.
But Power, watching as a man,
Saw no mountain there,
Only the mixing mist and sky,
And the flat earth.
What shoulder pushed through those mists
Of gay fantastic pastimes
And startled hills of sleep?
[He looks in the mirror]
Oh! apparition of me!
Ruddy flesh soon hueless!
Fade and show to my eyes
The lasting bare body.
Soul sack fall away