The Changing Light at Sandover
Page 16
…Therapy of perfect silliness.
3.3
The blue room of an evening. Luminous
Quiet in which a point is raised. DJ:
What part, I’d like to ask Them, does sex play
In this whole set-up? Why did They choose us?
Are we more usable than Yeats or Hugo,
Doters on women, who then went ahead
To doctor everything their voices said?
We haven’t done that. JM: No indeed.
Erection of theories, dissemination
Of thought—the intellectual’s machismo.
We’re more the docile takers-in of seed.
No matter what tall tale our friends emit,
Lately—you’ve noticed?—we just swallow it.
DJ: Which we wouldn’t do if one of Them
We felt uneasy with were our instructor.
JM: Not a chance. I mean, those highly placed
Gargoyles leave such a disagreeable taste.
We’d best hang on to 741;
He may be ugly, but he’s kind and…fun.
The following afternoon (Maria and Wystan
Hushed at their desks in Heaven, D and I
In the red schoolhouse of our lives below)
Our favorite bat holds forth upon these questions—
Aware already of delights and pains
Soon to course through his nonexistent veins?
I AM A MERE MIXING AGENT WITH MY SUPERIORS
U WD HAVE LEARND FASTER BUT NOT IN TURN MADE AS WE HAVE
THIS WORLD OF COURTESY
Breaking off, the cup strolls round the Board
As who should take a deep breath before speaking:
NOR WD I HAVE COME TO LOVE U
Love us? Sudden garlands (the tin ceiling’s)
Swim into focus. Then you do have feelings!
I WAS GRANTED THIS ONE CHANCE & NOW, IN ISOLATION,
WILL HOLD TO IT
And when it’s over? when we talk no longer?
THEY PROMISE TO FIND A NEW USE FOR ME
You trust Them?
DJ IT IS A POWER THAT STILLD THE TONGUE OF DANTE
Sorry. Why “in isolation”?
B4 OUR MEETINGS I WAS NOTHING NO TIME PASSD BUT NOW
YR TOUCH LIKE A LAMP HAS SHOWN ME TO MYSELF & I AM
ME: 741! I HAVE ENTERD A GREAT WORLD I AM FILLD
WITH IS IT MANNERS?
Ah good. That way you’ll never be beyond
Our wavelength. For we too have grown quite fond.
O YES PLEASE CALL ME I WILL ALWAYS
MY DEARS THAT SURELY IS A SMILE DEAR GOD
Yes, Wystan? THE CHAP IS CHANGING
Executing
Ever graver arabesques—
MES ENF
Maria? MES ENFANTS WHAT CAN I SAY?
IT IS MY FIRST VIEW OF A MIRACLE
What is this all about? But 741
Briskly resumes before the question’s out:
LOVE OF ONE MAN FOR ANOTHER OR LOVE BETWEEN WOMEN
IS A NEW DEVELOPMENT OF THE PAST 4000 YEARS
ENCOURAGING SUCH MIND VALUES AS PRODUCE THE BLOSSOMS
OF POETRY & MUSIC, THOSE 2 PRINCIPAL LIGHTS OF
GOD BIOLOGY. LESSER ARTS NEEDED NO EXEGETES:
ARCHITECTURE SCULPTURE THE MOSAICS & PAINTINGS THAT
FLOWERD IN GREECE & PERSIA CELEBRATED THE BODY.
POETRY MUSIC SONG INDWELL & CELEBRATE THE MIND…
HEART IF U WILL
A word you use here for the first time, no?
INDEED IT HAS BEEN SHAPED IN ME TO BE
WORTHY OF U 4, WORTHY TO GUIDE U TO THE ANGELS
FOR EVER SINCE THEIR SHAPING OF THE ORIGINAL CLAY
& THE PLUCKING OF THE APE (OR THE APPLE) FROM ITS TREE
WE HAVE HAD AN IRRESISTIBLE FORCE TO DEAL WITH: MIND.
UNTIL THEN ALL HAD BEEN INSTINCTIVE NATURE A CHAOS
LIKE FALLEN TREES IN THE EMPTY FOREST NO ONE TO HEAR,
OR AUTUMN’S UNHATCHD EGG NO ONE TO REMEMBER & MOURN.
NOW MIND IN ITS PURE FORM IS A NONSEXUAL PASSION
OR A UNISEXUAL ONE PRODUCING ONLY LIGHT.
FEW PAINTERS OR SCULPTORS CAN ENTER THIS LIFE OF THE MIND.
THEY (LIKE ALL SO-CALLD NORMAL LOVERS) MUST PRODUCE AT LAST
BODIES THEY DO NOT EXIST FOR ANY OTHER PURPOSE
Come now, admit that certain very great
Poets and musicians have been straight.
And Michelangelo? And that wedlock still
Makes the world go round, for good or ill?
NO DOUBT BUT 4000 YEARS AGO GOD B REALIZ
Censorship.
JM: Let the angels finish
That sentence, friend. Speak for yourself, not God.
MY ASPECT WAVERS YR KINDNESS KEEPS ME IN THIS NEW FORM
You talk as if we saw you. What new form?
3.4
MES ENFANTS HE HAS TURNED INTO A PEACOCK
3.5
DJ: For the love of— JM: Peacock there,
There in the realm of no appearances?
HE APPEARS IN US OUR MINDS (HEARTS) ARE HIS MIRROR
JUST THE REVERSE OF VAMPIRES, EH ENFANT?
A peacock—hm! Not proud as one, I hope.
MY DEARS HIS GREAT TAIL SNAPPED SHUT LIKE A FAN
THERE IS A DESIGN AT WORK U ARE NOW BEING PREPARED
Our lessons can’t be finished? WE MUST START
PUTTING WHAT THE STRAIGHT OLD PAINTERS CALL
A WASH OVER THEM I SHD THINK MY DEARS
WE SHALL BATHE THEM IN LIGHT WE SHALL HOLD THEM TO THE WINDOW
TO SEE DENSITY BECOME THE HARMONIC STRUCTURE &
CHEMISTRY THE ORCHESTRATION & AH SOUL THE HEARING
Peacock, peacock—
MAY I ASK A ? DO TEARS PAIN ONE?
Yes. No. Pain and bless.
MY EYES BURN RED
IN THE FEATHERD MASK AS FORMERLY THEY BETRAY MY RACE
Shall we correct that by imagining
Eyes of crystal?
THERE ARE ALAS LIMITS I HAVE NEVER LOOKD THRU CRYSTAL
Yet you see through us.
NO O NO YR SOULS ARE NOT TRANSPARENT THEY WEAR A VEIL
OF HUMAN EXPERIENCE & THIS I WILL NEVER LIFT.
YR DEAR DEAD CAN PERFORM MIRACLES THEY SEE THE PEACOCK
WHO SAW IT IN GARDENS HEARD IT CRY I ONLY KNEW THE
FORMULA CALLD PEACOCK & (SOULLESS AS I WAS) ENVIED
A CERTAIN RARE TALENT IT HAD TO PLEASE THE EYE SO WHEN
I BEGGD TO PLEASE U THEY ASKD HOW? & I TOOK FROM THE FILE
THE PEACOCK
Or was there from the first a Peacock that
Struggled within you to unseat the Bat?
HENCEFORTH THERE WILL BE I KNOW THE TRICK OF IT
FOR IS THE PEACOCK NOT ALSO SOMEWHAT ATHENIAN?
JM: Platonic? Oh, you mean the peacock
I once put in a poem set in Athens?
Yes, of course. DJ: Would he be using
“Athenian” in the sense that Marius—
3 CHEERS FOR DAVID HE STANDS UP FOR US!
Is that you, Marius? COME & GONE MY DEAR
PLATO SAYS ATHENS WAS AT BEST HALF QUEER
What’s Plato like? O YOU KNOW TATTLETALE GRAY
NIGHTGOWN OFF ONE SHOULDER DECLASSEE,
TO QUOTE MM A GAS, TO QUOTE CK
PLATO HAS REACHD STAGE 9 & ENJOYS AN ETERNITY
&n
bsp; OF TALK HE CLUNG TO AN IDEAL BOTH LOFTY & STERILE
MES ENFANTS NOW DO U UNDERSTAND MY LOVE
OF YOU & TONY (an Athenian friend)
YOU 3 WERE & ARE THE RICH SOIL OF
MY LAST BLOOMING U HAVE THE TOUCH THAT TURNS
BATS INTO PEACOCKS & DECREPIT OLD
BAGS FROM THE OTHER HALF OF ATHENS INTO
ROSE TREES? COFFEE TREES? I AM I MEAN
ONCE & FOR ALL RESIGNED TO BEAR A BEAN
SO IN OUR NEW ATMOSPHERE WE NEXT LOOK BACK OVER HOW
FAR WE HAVE COME IN THE VOICE OF A SOUL I BREATHE: ADIEU
Au revoir, surely? O YES HE’LL BE BACK
IF ONLY TO TRY ON ALL THE PRETTY FORMS
THRILLING WASN’T IT? WE MUST HOWEVER
PUT ON OUR THINKING CAPS: ARE WE PREPARED?
MM & I WILL ALSO MEET OUR MAKER
JOLLY FOR U BUT IT IS EASIER
TO SAY HELLO GOD ON THE TELEPHONE
THAN FACE TO FACE
MES ENFANTS OFF HE GOES
TO JAW WITH PLATO I CANNOT THINK WHY
UNTIL TOMORROW AT THE PEACOCK’S CRY!
3.6
Tomorrow comes at last, a sparkling noon.
Treetops and whitecaps dance in unison
As Wystan asks: SHD WE NOT THINK ABOUT
THE IMAGINATION? IF MM & I
IMAGINE U, YOU US, & WHERE THE POWERS
CRISSCROSS WE ALL IMAGINE 741
& THEN TRANSFORM HIM! WHEN THE TIME COMES WILL
OUR KNITTED BROWS PRODUCE WHITE WINGS? HE’S HERE
U ARE EARLY JOY WE ARE IN A FOLD OF ENERGY
WE 5 AND MUST PREPARE OURSELVES UNEASINESS DJ?
Not really, but…where do we go from here?
FAR INDEED B4 WE BOARD THE FLIGHT TO THE PIN OF LIGHT!
FIRST OUR 5 SOULS MUST BEGIN TO BE A SINGLE POWER:
5 IS THE MIDWAY NOW BEGINS THE LIFE OF OUR MINDS 5
AS ONE IT IS A VERY UNION OF THE ELEMENTS
THUS: WATER (MM) EARTH (WHA) AIR (JM) FIRE
(MY POOR SELF) & LAST THE SHAPING HAND OF NATURE (DJ)
COME TO US O FIVE ELEMENTS MAKE US ONE MIND ONE FORCE
NOW LET US EACH IN SILENCE CONTEMPLATE THESE HOLY 5
Our peacock marks time back and forth from One
To Zero: a pavane
Andante in an alley of green oaks;
The ostinato ground we each in turn
Strum a division soundlessly upon;
A prayer-wheel whose four spokes
Flow and crumble, breathe and burn.
Deep swaying weights, downbraidings of no hue
Which memory turns blue,
And cold, to multiples of diamond;
First air of our young bloods; and neural sparks’
Safe-conduct when the old salt diving through
Reflection and beyond
Earsplitting, mute, maternal darks
Accepts that gift of tongues at matter’s core
He henceforth can no more
Speak than unlearn; it’s they who translate him,
His pride and purpose, to white ash, baked clay;
Delicate cauldron tints and furnace-roar
Embrace of cherubim—
Ah god, it takes the breath away!
WE PAUSE TO GATHER STRENGTH 2 HERE ARE MORTAL GIVE THEM PAUSE
The stored wit flickers out, the spine erodes
And pain in lightning raids
Strikes at the tree; now charred, now sleeved in sleet,
Miming itself to sunset, the tough rind
Compact enough, we trust, of royal reds
And marble slabs of meat
Not wholly to be undermined
As milkweed, gnat, and fumes of vinegar
Chafe in molecular
Bondage, or dance in and out of it—
Midnight’s least material affairs
Reconciling to glow faint and far
Each atom the sun split,
Whose heirs we are who are the air’s.
NATURE 5TH ELEMENT IN YOUR HAND MAY THESE
EXCHANGE INTENSITIES
KEEPING, AS YOU GUIDE, OUR EARTHINESS
AIRY FLUID ARDENT MAY THE STARS LONG
RECYCLE THE FAIR WARDROBE FIELDS & SEAS
ZEPHYRS & DAWNINGS BLESS
THIS FIVEFOLD UNION & OUR SONG
Who was that? ME MY BOY SO MADDENING
NOT TO REVISE THEY COME The elements?
YES INVISIBLE BUT HUSH THEY SPEAK
3.7
OUR SISTER THE REMOTEST GALAXY
BY QUINTUPLICITY
IS LINKED TO YOU AS TO ALL THINGS ALIVE.
OUR V WORK IS THE ONWARD DANCE OF THINGS.
ONE OF US WAS IS SHALL FOREVER BE
IN EACH OF YOU O FIVE
WHO LIVE IN US. YOUR PEACOCK’S WINGS
WE PAINTED, HIS SPREAD TAIL & SAPPHIRE BREAST,
BUT YOUR MINDS COALESCED
TO FORM HIS: HE IS YOURS. MIND HAS THIS FORCE,
IS DEATHLESS, IS THE MUSIC DANTE HEARD,
THE ENERGY WE DRAW FROM MANIFEST
IN 5 RINGS ROUND THE SOURCE
OF LIGHT. ONE CAUTIONARY WORD:
THE MATTER WHICH IS NOT WAS EVER OURS
TO GUARD AGAINST. ITS POWERS
ARE MAGNETIZED BY FOREIGN BEACONS, BLACK
HANDS TESTING THE GREENHOUSE PANE BY PANE.
CLING TO YOUR UNION: 5 THRU THE DARK HOURS
WE KEEP WATCH WE PRESS BACK.
AT ZERO SUMMON US AGAIN.
3.8
The cup appears to swoon at the last word,
But now revives. Our incandescent bird:
I AM FREE FREE I AM FORGIVEN MASTER OF MY TRIBE
SHALL I GIVE THEM THIS NEW MAGIC? NO ALL POWER ATTRACTS
& MUST BE DENIED US FROM MY 1ST STEPPING FORTH I FELT
YR CHARM I HAD FEARD U I HAD HITHERTO RESPONDED
ONLY TO FORMULAS I WAS FORBIDDEN KNOWLEDGE OF
YR FILES UNTIL AFTER THAT 1ST EXPOSURE TO THIS GLASS
JM: The mirror? DJ: Why not these windows?
YES TO THE SURROUNDING GLASS NO MERCURY IS NEEDED.
U WERE QUICK & MANNERLY WE CD WORK AS ONE & NOW
AT LAST IT IS GIVEN ME TO SHARE THE FORCE OF NATURE
THE SWEETNESS OF WATER & AIR THE COMMON SENSE OF EARTH
HERE IN YR VERY HEARTH OF HEARTS TO BURN
(Isn’t he enchanting?) Should we know
What “V Work” is? IN DEFERENCE
TO ALL VITAL GROUPINGS OF 5 WE MAY NOW INSERT V
WHEN NAMING WORK GUIDED BY HIGHER COLLABORATION
And those black hands? They chill
The blood, it’s little wonder that you still
Wash yours of them. I nonetheless recall
Its being said you caused them by your Fall.
OR THEY CAUSED IT? EVIL IS AN OLD, WIDESPREAD LEGEND ALL
LEGENDS ARE ROOTED IN TRUTH. IS EVIL A MERE MATTER
OF FUSION GONE MAD? NO FOR IT IS NOT A STUPID FORCE
IT SEEKS THE WORLD. DOES HELL EXIST? IT ALSO IS LEGEND
THERE4 PART TRUE U SEE, I AM NOW FREE TO SPECULATE
If only we were less free to reflect;
If diametrics of the mirror didn’t
Confirm the antiface there as one’s own…
YES NO PERHAPS I STILL VIBRATE TO OUR DIAPENTE
WE ARE MOVING TOWARD THE GREAT DOORS OUR FEET ARE BEING WASHD
I AM A RI
PPLE
& I A SEDIMENT
WE HAD A TASTE OF PARADISE TODAY
DJ: After this, what’s left for them to say
At Zero? JM (airily): They’ll find words.
I QUITE AGREE MY DEAR WHY NOT? WEVE FOUND EM
FLOWN OFF TO PLATO POOR MAMAN NOW WHO’LL
CARRY HER BOOKS & WALK HER HOME FROM SCHOOL
3.9
JM: If you’re in pain, let’s skip today.
I tossed and turned all night myself. DJ:
Oh it’s all right. I shouldn’t have let eight
Years go by. Now, when they operate—
8 YEARS DJ? CLOSER TO 20 DO U TRULY NOT
RECALL? THE CLUE TO THAT OLD RUPTURE STANDS NOT FAR AWAY
We peer about; and there is the gleaming culprit
—The mirror—in the next room. Pain remembered
Mingling with today’s, D gasps: I do
Remember! Getting it upstairs—the strain—
In a cold sweat. I hadn’t wanted you…
THOSE EARLY DUES U PAID ADMIT U TO THE SEMINAR
NERVES ARE OUR DOMINION NOW YR PAIN EBBS BRAVO SCIENCE
MAN’S ONLY UNGOVERNABLE PANGS WILL SOON BE HUNGER
Till Science finds a way to conquer those.
IT HAS BUT 4/5 OF MANKIND REFUSES: BIRTH CONTROL
Then change our natures.
TO THE WOLF? Or add greener thoughts.
WORSE YET A CONSTANT STRANGLING IN THE STRUGGLE
FOR SPACE OUR MM’S VEG WORLD IS MOST FERVENTLY FERTILE
A pinch, in that case, of ascetic rock?
HIGH TIME THAT U CAME DOWN TO EARTH MY DEAR
ALL ELEMENTS OF LIFE ARE IN THE ROCKS & SEDIMENT
OF EARTH’S CRUST WE OURSELVES ARE AT HOME IN ITS MOLTEN HEART.
CONSIDER THE CRUST HERE MOLECULAR CONSTRUCTIONS MOVE
AT UNMARKD SPEEDS & TIME IS MEASURED IN MILLENIA
Whistles and bells. We run to the window—why,
It’s the Bicentennial, it’s the Fourth of July!
U ARE NOT UNLIKE HEAVEN LOOKING DOWN ON TIME PASSING