The Changing Light at Sandover

by James Merrill

  Emerge as Michael?

  NO NO I MUST NOT

  GONE QUITE TERRIFIED

  WE MIGHT LET SOMETHING SLIP He’s certainly

  Changed his tune about Nature. THAT TUNE MAY

  HAVE BEEN A SMALL TEST PASSED WHEN JM FLEW

  TO HER DEFENSE DJ: Wystan, you knew

  That Chester went to Earth on our big day?

  YES AH YES ALL SO HUMANELY PLANNED

  Could you say goodbye? NO WE WERE SPARED OUR FEELINGS:

  NO TEARS, NO AGONIZING INTERVIEW

  YET WE HAD MANY MANY EVENINGS SAID

  GOODNIGHT WITH A PAT & OFF EACH TO HIS BED

  I still don’t understand why Mirabell

  Couldn’t meet Michael. JM: Come, we know

  The Bible, sort of, and we’ve seen the icons.

  Michael is the fallen angels’ blazing

  Triumphant adversary. With his sword

  “Fierce as a Comet”, with his sunlike armor—

  Stately allusions to a time before

  The Church absolved itself of Holy War—

  He’s light’s power over dark. DJ: Then is

  Mirabell a devil? JM: Well,

  Up to a point. Beyond it he remains

  A puzzle—part of the “atomic forces”

  That wrecked “Atlantis”. What this fable means

  In textbook terms, we’ve long despaired of learning!

  MICHAEL THE PURE PHOTON? HIS WHITE LIGHT

  QUANTUM INDIVISIBLE WD KNOCK

  OUR PEACOCK PARTICLE OF TINSEL GREENS

  & BLUES & REDS MY BOYS TO SMITHEREENS

  Yet Mirabell’s 00 somehow took part.

  Détente in Heaven? DJ: I just wish

  Mirabell weren’t suddenly so servile—

  It’s we who should fall upon our knees to thank him.

  NOT MES ENFANTS HIS CHOICE WE NOW OUTRANK HIM

  *

  See how sunlight filters through the green!

  (Our mascot Peperomia, named at last,

  Each leaf a new life moist and sparkling—)

  THE RADIANT CELLS What

  Can it be like inside them, Mirabell?

  PALATIAL THE VEG CELLS LUMINOUS,

  THE MINERAL FIERY BOTH HOT & COLD FIRE. THESE

  GENIUS STRUCTURES OF THE MASTER ARCHITECT HAVE THE

  SUPREME QUALITY OF WEIGHTLESS DOMES THEIR ELABORATE

  GROINING & VITAL PILLARS POSITIOND WITHOUT BASEWORK,

  FOR BOTH ROOF & FLOOR BREATHE LIFE & HOLD TO EACH OTHER BY

  TRANSLUCENT MEANS

  Do you experience the cold and heat?

  THESE LIKE TIME ARE NONEXISTENT FOR US

  YET MORE THAN TIME THEY EFFECT & AFFECT MATTER. WE ARE

  INTERESTED IN TEMPERATURE AS IT APPLIES TO

  SOUL INTENSITIES WE OVERSEE. WITH THE HISTORIC

  MIGRATIONS (GENGHIS KHAN ETC) WE CAME TO SEE THAT THE LAB

  SOULS MUST THEMSELVES BE MIGRATED NOT REBORN IN THE SAME

  HEMISPHERE OR CLIMATE: CONSTANT ROUGH STUFF! TEMP IS A FRAME

  FOR BEING. SOULS PERMANENTLY IN HEAVEN KNOW NEITHER

  HOT NOR COLD BUT TO DIVERT THE PASSER-THRU WE ARRANGE

  THE PLUNGE INTO THE WORKINGS OF THE VOLCANO, THE SWIM

  UNDER POLAR ICE, THE CLIMB UP A TREE INSIDE THE TREE:

  LESSONS THAT EQUIP OUR TRANSIT SOULS FOR LIFE

  BACK TO CELLS

  THERE ARE AS U KNOW MILLIONS OF DIFFERENCES IN EACH

  CATEGORY FROM MINERAL TO VEG, REPTILE TO MAN,

  & FINALLY THE STRUCTURELESS STRUCTURE OF THE SOUL CELL,

  OR MORE PROPERLY THE SUBLIME STRUCTURE OF THE CELLS OF

  GOD BIOLOGY

  Whose body is Earth. Whose eye—the glowing Sun—

  Upon the sparrow also is the sparrow…

  IN SAINTLY TERMS MY DEAR THE MYSTIC UNION

  U NEXT MEET THE ANGEL?

  Tomorrow. I PERHAPS

  MADE A BIT MUCH OF PROTOCOL B4

  No harm done. & WAS RATHER

  LAUGHED AT Never by us!

  NO? WELL YR NEW INSTRUCTOR IS MOST POWERFUL

  & YOU MUST UNDERSTAND MY GREAT RESPECT IF I CAN BE

  OF SERVICE? WELL AS TO PROTOCOL, DO AS U SEE BEST

  —Backing off.

  HE DREADS TO RAISE HIS EYES

  MAMAN FEELS HELPLESS SO LIKE THE OLD DAYS:

  PEOPLE WAITING FOR HOURS WAITED YET

  LONGER WHEN THE SPOILT PRIME MINISTER’S

  DAUGHTER DROPPED IN FOR POCKET MONEY

  CLASS

  TROUBLING ENOUGH ON EARTH & NOW ALAS

  THAT THE ROI SOLEIL HAS ENTERED & STOOD STILL

  TO CHAT WITH US, HOW EVERYONE DEFERS!

  But talent makes the difference there, and mind.

  DON’T COUNT ON IT SUCH FRIGHTFULLY UNWORTHY

  TYPES THAT IMP LUCA Go on! HAS REPLACED

  POOR DOTING CHESTER WITH INDECENT HASTE

  Found a new friend? Who? PLATO WHAT HE SEES

  IN L!? IS IT AS I ONCE WROTE, THAT GOD

  JUDGES WHOLLY BY APPEARANCES?

  Then Luca must be one of Nature’s best.

  PURE CARAVAGGIO & A PEACHBLOOM PEST

  More about the status you’ve acquired?

  ENFANTS WYSTAN & I HAVE A SALON:

  REGULAR SMART LEVEES ONE SIMPLY PICKS

  UP THE (M) BLACK RECEIVER & A MADLY

  EFFICIENT 77036

  DOES ALL THE REST Who comes? WHO DOESN’T? O

  LET’S SEE YESTERDAY: COLETTE, COCTEAU,

  ST SIMON So Wystan’s taking up

  The Frogs at last. QUE VOULEZ VOUS? THE PLATONIC

  SYNDROME LED ME TO THE POISONED CUP,

  A BREW OF JUICY VIGNETTES! Such as? WELL, TALES OF

  LOUIS XIV & EPHRAIM EYE TO EYE

  BOWING IN THE MIRRORS AT VERSAILLES

  Poor Ephraim, we’ve all dropped him, like a mask…

  BESIDES, AMONG THE GERMANS (UNTER VIER

  AUGEN) GOETHE TURNS OUT QUITE MY DEAR

  AS DULL AS RILKE DJ: They’re mined out,

  Densities fueling readers here below—

  Unlike the French? CURIOUS POINT WHY SO?

  COLETTE MORE RECENTLY DEAD? OR ELSE IN HER

  PAGES ARE VEINS NO STUDY CAN EXHAUST,

  ACCESSIBLE TO THE LUCKY AMATEUR

  WITHOUT FIRST BEING PROCESSED? ACADEME

  MINES I SUSPECT WITH DEEPER BLASTS The dire

  Glumness of some critics— WE FOREDOOM

  THOSE CALLING CARDS TO OUR HALL PORTER’S FIRE

  And tomorrow Michael! YES THIS AFTERNOON

  WE’RE NOT AT HOME A HUSH EXTENDS AROUND US

  ONE ALL BUT HEARS THE QUIVER THRU THE HOUSE

  OF FAINTLY, AWESOMELY APPROACHING WINGS.

  MM FUSSING WITH HER NEW SILVER GOWN,

  MY BLOND HEAD RISING FROM A GOSSAMER WHITE

  TUNIC How Rosenkavalier! O QUITE

  HE BY THE WAY IS A DARLING Who is? STRAUSS

  *

  The Second Visit

  MORTAL CHILDREN, GENTLE SHADES, GREETINGS. I AM MICHAEL.

  THE VAST FORMING INTELLIGENCE ENCOMPASSING THE ENERGIES OF A UNIVERSE OF BORNING & EXPLODING WORLDS SETTLED AT LAST FOR THIS, CALLED EARTH.

  ONCE AGAIN OUR ARCHITECT MADE READY HIS TOOLS & BEGAN HIS WORK.

  HIS PLAN, O HIS PLAN!

  HE HAS FOREVER DREAMED OF CREATING A GOOD COMPANY AND A FRIENDLY PLACE. NOW HE BEGAN AGAIN CUPPING ENERGIES AND LAYING ABOUT SEED & LIGHT.

  HE LONG KNEW THE FORCES ARRAYED AGAI
NST HIM: THE NEGATIVES, THE VOIDS. HE HAD BEEN BESTED BEFORE.

  THESE HAD DESTROYED OTHERS OF HIS WORKS BY EXPLOSION AND BY BLACK SUCTIONING, AND HE NAMED THEM EVIL.

  HE WAS EVER ON GUARD, HE SET ASIDE FOUR QUANTA OF ENERGY AND FIRST CREATED HIS HELPERS.

  I AWOKE.

  MY FACE GENTLY AS BY A BREEZE WAS TURNED UPWARD: ‘BEHOLD, MY OWN, THE LIGHT’

  THIS I KNEW WAS MY DUTY, EACH OF ITS WORKINGS, ITS SHINING & ITS DIMMING, ITS TERRIBLE & ITS FRUITFUL ASPECTS: THE TENDING OF THE SUN.

  MY BROTHERS WERE ASSIGNED THEIR DUTIES, WE BENT OUR BACKS TO THE PLAN. ANOTHER CHANCE TO BE GIVEN TO OUR MASTER!

  SO THE SOFT WORDS, THE INTELLIGENCE. NOW WHAT IS THIS IN FACT?

  WHAT MEANT BY PLAN? WORKS? WHAT BY MASTER? AND WHAT, AT THE GOLDEN END, BY PARADISE?

  A WHIRL OF FIRE. A BALL. A CLOUD OF SMOKE & SETTLING ASH. A COOLING. A LOOK AT THE THING.

  O IS IT, THAT STANDING BACK AT THE VERY ELBOW OF INTELLIGENCE, IS THIS NOT THE FERTILE ELEMENT: IMAGINATION?

  WE DESCENDED THEN ON AN ARC. FOR THE ARCHITECT, THAT WHITESMITH,

  HAD FLUNG HIS WATERY HANDS DOWNWARD AND A HISSING STEAM ENVELOPED OUR DREAM.

  I RAISED THE BEAM, FOUR DIVINE COLORS LAID AN ARC, WE WENT DOWN.

  AND THEN FROM HIS STORED INTELLIGENCE, JUST AS HAD THE STUFF OF US, CAME THE RUSH, THE SPRINGING ENERGIES, THE AIR FRESHENED, LIFE! LIFE!

  THERE IS FOR US NO DIMENSION OF TIME. SO HOW MAY YOU KNOW THE LENGTHS WHICH WERE ONLY THE INTELLIGENCE & ITS WORKINGS?

  THESE HUGE AND HUMBLE MIRACLES APPEARED:

  ASH TO SOIL. STARS TO ENERGY SOURCES. SUN TO GROWTH. EACH STEP A STEP TOWARD THE FIRST FLAT WIDE GREEN SPACES.

  THEN BROTHER ELIAS WAS TOLD: ‘DIVIDE BY WATER’

  AND MY BROTHER CALLED FORTH THOSE ENERGIES & INSTRUCTED THEM.

  THEY MULTIPLIED, THEY POURED FORTH, AND THE GREEN WAS SEPARATED ACCORDING TO THE PROPORTIONS DEEMED NEEDFUL BY OUR MASTER

  FOR HE HELD IN HIS INTELLIGENCE SEVERAL CHILDREN HE WISHED TO KEEP APART.

  US FOUR HE SUMMONED. HE SAID: ‘NOW WE ARE READY,

  YET IS NOT THIS PLACE BEAUTIFUL SIMPLY OF GREEN & WATER & QUIET AIR?’

  WE WAITED AS DO THE WORK ANIMALS WHO KNOW THEIR MASTER HAS NOT BROUGHT THEM OUT FOR MERE COMPANY, THAT IN THE SOIL UNDER THEIR HOOVES LIES HIS DEAR ATTENTION.

  WE HAVE NOT ENVIED HIS VARIOUS CHILDREN.

  HE SAID: ‘TAKE THIS STICKING EARTH AND FASHION ME SOME FORMS.’

  MANY WERE THEN MODELED, SOME HE NODDED AT, OTHERS WERE SMASHED AGAIN FLAT. AND THEN HE POINTED TO A FORM

  AND THE RADIANCE OF HIS FACE MADE US KNEEL: THE HEIR.

  AND WHAT? A CREATURE OF GREAT BLANK EYES & LOW HANGING HEAD, SHY OF US, BETWEEN TREMBLING FORELEGS: ‘MY SON’

  AGAIN THE WORK. WE HOVERED & HELPED WHERE WE COULD. AND THIS CREATURE SUPPED ON THOUGHT.

  (DJ: The centaur? JM: Shh! I think so.)

  YET OUR MASTER HAD IN SPARE A TWOLEGGED CREATURE WE HAD FORMED FIRST, AS HE SEEMED THE IMAGE OF OURSELVES.

  THE HISTORY OF THE ONE YOU KNOW. OF THE OTHER, YOU LIVE.

  NOW WHEN IN THE COURSE OF HIS PLAN THE ARCHITECT FROWNS ON HIS WORK, HIS MERCY ALLOWS IT TO DESTROY ITSELF.

  AND ALWAYS AT HIS BECK IS DESTRUCTION, A THIRD BROTHER.

  A MODEST BROTHER. WHO IS NOT, WHO MUST UNDO?

  ‘TAKE THE CREATURES IN HAND.’

  WE TURNED OUR EYES FROM THE LOUD EXPLOSION.

  AND WHEN OUR BROTHER CAME TO US HE HELD ONLY THE ONE FORM, & IN HIS OTHER HAND LOOSE CLAY.

  WE WAITED: AGAIN THE CYCLE OF FIRE, ASH, DUST.

  HOW PATIENT TRUE INTELLIGENCE! A NEW DESIGN:

  THE FLAT PLAINS WERE NOW BROKEN BOTH BY WATER & MOUNTAINS, AND THE SEASONS SPURRED BY CAPPED ICE. WHY?

  ‘MY CHILD MUST STRUGGLE TO GAIN HIS INHERITANCE’

  THEN AGAIN WE PRESENTED OUR MODEL. WE KNEW BY OUR MASTER’S SMILE THAT HE HAD AT LAST RECOGNIZED THE IMAGE AS FAITHFUL.

  ‘MAKE HIM UNDER THE NAME OF MAN. LET HIM SURVIVE.’

  AS MICHAEL I AM ALLOWED TO WONDER, FOR I AM A FAVORITE OF GOD’S:

  WHY UNDER THE NAME? WAS MY MASTER PUTTING A DISTANCE BETWEEN HIMSELF AND THIS NEW CREATURE?

  ‘BROTHERS (I SAID) OUR CREATURE MUST ENDEAR HIMSELF’ AND THEY UNDERSTOOD.

  WE MADE FACE & EYES IN THEMSELVES INFINITELY APPEALING. BY THOSE EYES WE SHOWED OUR LORD SOMETHING OF THE DARLING OF HIS OWN GENIUS

  (SMALL TREASURES HE LOVES, OWNING THE VAST UNIVERSE).

  OUR CREATURE STILL HANGING ON A GROWN THING CALLED TREE HAD NOT YET BEEN ACCEPTED.

  A FOURTH BROTHER OF GREAT WIT, OUR TRUE INVENTOR, THOUGHT: HOW TO DELIGHT GOD?

  AND TAKING A SPARK FROM AN ENERGY NEARBY HE FLUNG IT INTO THE CREATURE’S HEAD

  AND AT ONCE THE STUNNED FINGERS LOOSENED, DOWN IT FELL, AND WHEN NEXT THE EYES OPENED THEY PEERED STRAIGHT UP.

  AND GOD SAW A NEW LIGHT THERE.

  IT SHONE FLICKERING OVER SEVERAL IDEAS: MINE, MASTERY, WHY?

  AND GOD TURNED TO US: ‘IT IS MY OWN.’

  THAT LONG MARCH IS STILL UNDER WAY. I AM MICHAEL. MY LIGHT IS YOUR DAY.

  WHEN AS NOW IT SINKS I LEAVE YOU FOR MY VIGIL. ON OTHER DAYS, THE NEXT TWO TIMES, YOU WILL MEET MY WATER BROTHER, THEN TOO MY WITTY EARTH BROTHER.

  AT LAST WE WILL BRING YOU OUR SHY BROTHER, HANDS BEHIND HIM,

  AND YOUR INSTRUCTION WILL BEGIN.

  AND NOW O HUMAN MEN CHILDREN & GOD’S DELIGHT, HEAR MICHAEL SAY:

  INTELLIGENCE, THAT IS THE SOURCE OF LIGHT. FEAR NOTHING WHEN YOU STAND IN IT I RAISE YOU UP AMONG US HAIL HAIL

  *

  VIS A VIS MY DEARS ON MICHAEL’S PALM!

  ONE HAD THE FEELING OF A BIJOU OBJECT

  HE WAS IMMENSELY PLEASED AT LAST TO OWN

  He must then be immense. INDEED THE SCALE

  OF THE LOST IVORY & GOLD ATHENA?

  MAKES ONE ASK WHAT PHIDIAS HAD SEEN

  I wish—I nearly said “I wish we’d been there!”

  U WERE BOTH LISTENING AS DEAR ONES DO,

  EYES TURNED ASIDE NOT TO IMPEDE THE FLOW

  We’re at your level? YES In our old clothes,

  Wrinkle and graying hair and liver spot?

  NOT IN OUR WITCH’S GLASS, DISTINCTLY NOT!

  Who’s fairest? DJ: Michael, I suppose.

  He’ll come again? THEY AS I SEE IT WILL

  INCREASE IN NUMBER ONE BY ONE UNTIL

  THEY STAND FOURSQUARE: NATURE’S 4 GENTLEMEN

  And the shy brother? AH THE SOUNDING BASS

  IN THE QUARTET OR PITCH INAUDIBLE

  EXCEPT TO A BLACK DOG: HE OVERSEES

  MIRABELL’S OLD MASTER I SHD THINK

  WHO IN HIMSELF IS SOMETHING Is he? Tell!

  00 APPEARS FIRST, WE STAND, HE RATHER AHEM

  PORTENTOUSLY FACES OFF THEN LIFTING INK

  BLACK GLITTERY WINGS OBSCURES OUR VIEW WITH THEM.

  WHITE LIGHT APPEARS AROUND HIM HE BECOMES

  THE SILHOUETTE OF Evil? NO…RESISTANCE?

  A PRIMAL SCENE? PART OF A MASTERMASQUE:

  IN THE SERENE WHITE BRILLIANCE MICHAEL’S EYES

  THEN FACE THEN FIGURE NOW MATERIALIZE

  IN UTTER QUIET HE PUTS DOWN HIS HAND

  ON WHICH MM & I TAKING OUR STAND

  ARE LIFTED TO THE LEVEL OF HIS FACE

  WHERE THE BIJOU EFFECT TAKES PLACE

  ENFANTS

  HIS GOLDEN EYES EVER ALERT AND CALM

  ARE FIXED UPON US WE ARE UNAWARE

  OF MOVING LIPS & YET HIS VOICE IS THERE

  SURROUNDING US OR ARE WE IN HIS MIND

  READING THESE GLORIES THAT WOULD SEEM TO COME

  FROM BOTH SIDES OF THE MIRROR
OF MANKIND?

  How does it end? REVERSE PROCEDURE EYES

  DIMMING, THEN FACE HAND LOWERED ALL THE REST

  IS SUDDENLY OUR FORMER STATE OF THINGS.

  THERE LIES THE OLD AWED MASTER FACEDOWN WINGS

  OUTSTRETCHED Does he speak then? O TOUCHINGLY

  MUMBLES ON HIS WAY OUT ‘U ARE BLEST’

  DJ MY BOY SMOOTH SAILING

  AS WE SPEAK

  MAMAN PATS DOWN THE SEAS HERE’S TO A GREEK

  NEW YEAR’S DAY PARTY! HUGS FROM ALL YR FRIENDS

  —With which our long, amazing summer ends.

  George on Birds

  DJ crosses the ocean. JM, alone

  Through the mild autumn months in Stonington,

  Quarries from the transcript murky blocks

  Of revelation, now turning a phrase

  To catch the red sunset, now up at dawn

  Edging into place a paradox—

  One atop the other; and each weighs

  More than he can stop to think. Despair

  Alternates with insight. Strange how short

  The days have grown, considering the vain

  Ticking, back, forth, of leafless metronomes

  Beyond the pane, where atmosphere itself

  One morning crystallizes. Winter’s here.

  George Cotzias, freed of his patient’s gown

  At last, suggests an evening on the town.

  My sister gives us tea first. A fire’s laid

  And lit, in whose diaphanous charade

  He borrows her ease, she his earnestness;

  I from them both, a sense of taxing roles

  Consigned, on rare occasion, to the coals.

  But curtain time approaches: she must dress.

  In the dim doorway, while I pace the street

  Of old facades, frost-featured and discreet,

  They linger. Then her silvery goodbye.

  At table, over wine, the man of Science

  —Bifocal lenses catching candlelight,

  Athena’s owl, ear cocked and tufted white—

  Takes in the transformation of gargoyle

  To feathered friend. Pure vinegar and oil

  Our viewpoints, I’d have thought. Not so:

  These now are things that Science cares to know.