From upstairs, Schwarzkopf, who had dubbed a high
C in that late Tristan Flagstad made:
“Es ist ein Besuch!” NOT BAD AT ALL, NOT BAD
BUT YOU MY GREATEST VOICE
MY DEAREST FRIEND
He wears a frockcoat; she, a flowery gown,
And positively croons over the lily.
Enter a plumed Splendor:
OUR SCULPTORS CARVED
THAT FLOWER BY THE THOUSAND & WHEN MY PALACE
FELL INTO THE MOAT (It’s Montezuma!)
ONE BLOSSOM, ONE STONE LILY FLOATED FREE
& THE POOR SPANIARDS WENT PALE WITH DREAD:
THE LIGHT VOLCANIC ROCK, YOU SEE
BUT IS
THIS GLASS ONESIDED? asks a new voice.
COME
SISTER QUEEN (Akhnaton and Nefertiti!)
OUR LORD THE SUN ENJOINS US TO LOOK UP
Michael is ready, as a final guest
Slips in:
AND MUSIC TOO? Who have we here?
I NOTICE SOME IMPROVEMENTS ON MY CAVE
Plato—oh, you won’t approve of Strauss!
NEVER DISAPPROVE IT WARPS THE SOUL
All take their places as the light takes form.
The First Lessons: 9
Mich.
WELCOME AT THIS OUR TOPMOST STAGE,
CHILDREN, TO A SILVER AGE.
(The ring, the silver rose, the Jubilee,
Everything fits unbelievably)
NOW QUICK SENSES: TOUCH THE ICE,
TASTE THE SPICE, SMELL THE SCENT!
FROM HEAVEN BENT WE LEAN, LAY CLAIM
UPON YOUR HANDS. NOW LOOK INTO THE FLAME
We do. All do. A timeless moment. Twelve
Figures reproduced to twelve times twelve
In ranks of the four colors, see themselves
—No, D and I see nothing—through the ‘sense
Prisms’ conferred on them by Michael. Thus
I WHO WAS WYSTAN SAW A YELLOW ME
AGED & WRY A GREEN HILARIOUSLY
LAUGHING A RED ME WRAUGHT A BLUE
ME STARING STRAIGHT INTO MY OWN TWO EYES
While I WHO WAS MARIA IN THE FITTER’S
MIRROR SAW A RED ENRAGED MAMAN
A BLUE IN BLISS WITH FLOWERS IN HER HAIR
A GREEN TOO SHY TO SPEAK OF & MOST ODD
A YELLOW SELF I’D SEEN 100,000 TIMES
DOING MY FACE. TOO SIMPLIFIED, BUT THESE
WERE MERELY PSYCHES, PERSONALITIES,
THE UPPER CRUST OF A MILLEFEUILLES LAYER BY LAYER,
HABITS & LOVES & LIFETIMES, PEELED AWAY
FROM EPIDERMS OF HUMAN MEMORY
Until, at Michael’s voice, the flame, like one
Shaken from sleep, returns each to his own:
ALL THE COLORS AT OUR FETE
(STRAUSS, A TUNE! FAIR SINGER, SING!
WE’LL HAVE THE BEST OF EVERYTHING)
GREENS YELLOWS BLUES & REDS, STAY WITH US YET
AND BE THE WHITE OF MY DELIGHT
IN EWIGKEIT
The master improvisor’s four-note theme,
BDEA, makes everybody smile—
B and I, the two notes are the same!
I come to Be, is the Idea. Meanwhile
Flagstad by the keyboard meets his eye,
Throws her blonde head back. It’s a fifth Last Song
—A silk trailed over dead leaves, loom of peak,
Ninths in full blossom, minor purl of stream.
As Wystan thumps along JUST KEEPING TIME
Michael’s words, which on the page look weak,
Come thrilling from her throat. He speaks through them:
SILVERY MY CHILDREN, ENTER IN
THIS HEAVEN IT IS GIVEN YOU TO WIN.
FOR WHO IS LEFT TO TELL YOU NAY?
OUR FATHER’S VOICE ANOTHER DAY
YOU’LL HEAR & FALL (LIKE ANGELS) DOWN TO PRAY!
TOUCH, TASTE, SMELL, HEAR & SEE,
NOW COMPOSE A SILENT HARMONY.
The song ends. LIFT YOUR HANDS: CLAP ONCE! We do.
WE ARE GONE The schoolroom empties in a trice.
Our black wick smoulders over melted ice.
In and out of numbers 9 to 1
Weaving like a drunk, the cup comes down
To earth: SPORTSWEAR BOYS CLOTHING WATCH THE STEP!
WOW DID U FEEL OUR TOUCH UPON YR HANDS?
JM: Not I. DJ: I felt…a chill?
YES FOR MY DEARS WE TOUCHED U & CAN STILL
ALMOST: AS RS SAID, ROSEPETAL SKIN
OR BABIES’ BOTTOMS Were we somehow in
The mirror for that hour? U WERE INDEED
Literally?—but by now we know
Where that will get us. Tutti: YES & NO
This Heaven was Pronouncement? IN THE SENSE
OF HAVING I SHD SAY A PRONOUNCED FLAIR
FOR THIS OR THAT, LIKE MICHAEL’S FROM THIN AIR
TOUCHING, SPECTACULAR EMBODIMENTS
You must have got your touch back when we kissed;
That’s why you said “My God”? DEAR BOY, NO: YR
STAGE DOOR JOHNNY HAD JUST GLIMPSED DEMURE
FLAGSTAD APPROACHING & KNEW WE WERE IN FOR BIGGER
TREATS THAN A VULGAR GROPE
I MES ENFANTS
WAS THRILLED BY NEF A PRESENCE OF PURE AMBER
ROBED IN 18TH DYNASTY HAUTE COUTURE
OVERWHELMING MICHAEL CAN DO IT ALL!
NOT A TRANSPARENCY: DO U RECALL
HER QUESTION? ONLY THEN WE UNDERSTOOD
WE WERE NOT LIVE, & WHEN SHE TOUCHED THE MIRROR
(FOR OF COURSE THE WALLS AROUND US WERE YR MIRROR)
IT WAS AS IF SHE O HEARTBREAKINGLY
HAD GRAZED AN OLD & WELLKNOWN PRISON. WE
PUT UP OUR HANDS IN FEAR LEST THE GLASS CRACK
LIKE GREENHOUSE PANES
BUT SHE AT ONCE DREW BACK:
A TEENY SHOCK THE MIRROR A COW GUARD?
SHE WANTED U AS WHO DID NOT? & YET…
Were we there only in a sense? IN ALL
THAT MATTER SHORT OF THE MATERIAL.
MICHAEL’S SLEIGHT OF HAND BROUGHT US TOGETHER
IN THE R LAB THE 5 COULD GO NO FURTHER,
A STYX OF QUICKSILVER DIVIDING THEM
FROM LIFE-INFECTED DJ & JM
The other angels, were they present? NO
ONLY, WHEN MICHAEL LOOKED INTO THE FLAME
HE STRUCK US AS COMMUNING OTHERWISE
THIS AFTERNOON WAS UTTERLY HIS SHOW
And ours! SO TRUE TO EACH EPIPHANY
ITS OWN: FLAGSTAD & STRAUSS WDN’T AT ALL
DO FOR A BUTTERED SHAMAN IN NEPAL
And next the voice of God. How do we rise
To that? SLEEP SOUND TONIGHT WE KISS YOUR EYES
*
The First Lessons: 10
No scene. The mirror bitter-black and vast,
Underdusted with remotest light.
ANCHORS AT LAST MM & I OUT HERE
RISING RISING INTO SUCH A VOID & HOWL!
OUR WALLS HAVE LONG SINCE DROPPED AWAY O THANK
GOD U HAVE COME WE THOUGHT WE HAD LOST TOUCH
May we ask questions? HUSH WE STRAIN TO HEAR
Now, ripple within ripple on black water,
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Pulse of the galactic radio
Timed then to mortal wavelength in mid-phrase:
IVE BROTHERS HEAR ME BROTHERS SIGNAL ME
ALONE IN MY NIGHT BROTHERS DO
YOU WELL
I AND MINE HOLD IT BACK BROTHERS I AND
MINE SURVIVE BROTHERS HEAR ME SIGNAL ME
DO YOU WELL I AND MINE HOLD IT BACK I
ALONE IN MY NIGHT BROTHERS I AND MINE
SURVIVE BROTHERS DO YOU WELL I ALONE
IN MY NIGHT I HOLD IT BACK I AND MINE
SURVIVE BROTHERS SIGNAL ME IN MY NIGHT
I AND MINE HOLD IT BACK AND WE SURVIVE
Pausing to be reread, then pulsing slowly
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
The cup glides off the far edge of the Board.
Life itself speaking. Song of the blue whale
Alone in Space? Bravery, vertigo,
Frontier austerities…Maria? Wystan?
BE CALM A DAY NOW OUR FRIENDS PRONE & COLD BUT THEY SURVIVE
Dumbly we nod.
IT IS YR BIRD! Of course—where are our manners?
Thank you for coming to us, Mirabell.
I AM YOUR OWN GIVE THEM A REST, THEY HAVE
KNOWN SOMETHING DIFFICULT I SPREAD WINGS OVER THEM ADIEU
*
Our friends are being DEBRIEFD, says Mirabell,
And as yet must not know what we have learned.
We hide the transcript, then the cup descends
This time from Zero, to emerge at One
And give us THE BAREST SKETCH: ENFANTS U JOINED US
THERE IN THE BLACKNESS OF THE GLASS WE SOARED
OUTWARD WE 4 ALONE HAND TOUCHING HAND
ON AN OBSIDIAN CUP CALLED UNIVERSE:
SHRIEK OF OUR ICY POINTER ON NO BOARD!
YOUR WALLS HAD DROPPED AWAY. EMPTY AH YES
MY DEARS & TERRIFYING UP UP UP
YET NOT WITHOUT A MAD LIGHTHEARTEDNESS
EH MM? IT MUST BE THE EXTREME
DRUG OF THE RISKTAKER WHO WD EVER DREAM
THAT SUCH
PLEA SET OM ORRO W
Look, now we’re making Mirabell
Uneasy. He was with you, though? INDEED
STOOD BRAVELY BY WITH SMELLING SALTS & ST
BERNARD FLASK & SEEMED ENFANTS THRUOUT
TO HAVE BEEN SHELTERING US WITH HIS HEAT,
FOR WE REVIVED IN WONDER FROM OUR FAINT
STILL HEARING AS IT WERE HIS (M) HEARTBEAT:
A BUZZ OF WHIRLING NUMBERS Like those street
Cafés in northern cities, with umbrellas
Of radiant warmth— AND THE ACCOUNTANT MIND
SITTING BENEATH THEM MY DEAR! WE WERE SURROUNDED
UPON AWAKENING BY MIRABELL’S KIND,
THE 00 STARING NOT AN ANGEL IN SIGHT…
HE FIDGETS WE HAD BEST LEAVE IT AT THAT.
TOMORROW IN THE SCHOOLROOM WE CAN CHAT
Night. Two phantoms out of Maeterlinck
Stand on the terrace watching the full moon sink.
DJ: It’s almost as if we were dead
And signalling to dear ones in the world.
They face it squarely, Wystan and Maria,
Terror or exaltation or whatever.
We two are deaf and dumb; they see, they hear.
They suffer; we feel nothing. We’re the dead…
And these were just the lessons that said Yes
—To what? for up through Michael’s magic well
Eerie undercurrents of distress.
Affirmative? I’m dreading Gabriel.
Right off the bat he’ll have some negative
Interstellar static stymieing
Any song Biology might sing.
JM: I wonder. Think, before you give
Way to panic, of what other meanings
The word “negative” takes on in Ephraim:
X-ray images, or Maya’s film
In which the widow turns into the bride.
Tricks of the darkroom. All those cameras clicking
In Venice, on the bridge. For now a new bridge—
Can it be crossed both ways?—from Yes to No
Is entering the picture. DJ: So
Is Venice, if our plans firm up. JM:
By which time, from the darkness you foresee,
Who knows what may develop milkily,
What loving presence? (Odd, not long ago
Our daydreams were in color, that tonight
Print out in Manichaean black and white.)
*
Wystan on God B’s Song
WELL THE 1ST THING WE HEARD WAS A FAINT PIPING
NOT UNLIKE A SHEPHERD’S FLUTE THIS GREW,
RESOLVED INTO NO MELODY BUT TONE
LEVELS & INTERVALS OF UTTERED MEANING:
PLAINTIVE? AFFIRMATIVE? O QUICKLY NOW
EXPOSE THAT PAGE UNCOVER IT MY DEARS!
WE ARE ALLOWED I find the page. They read.
AH SO HEARTBREAKING SO THAT WAS IT
He’s singing to the Pantheon. OR ALONE
KEEPING UP HIS NERVE ON A LIFERAFT
Far cry from the joyous Architect
Michael told us of at the beginning—;
But He gets answered. DOES HE? Yes. The angels
Spoke of signals. DO THEY KNOW? I see.
They’ve never heard the Song. ONLY WE 4
& THAT’S AS HE WOULD SAY THE HALF OF IT
What was the song’s effect on you? MM
KNEW HERSELF TO BE AMONG THE STARS
THE WORLD LOST, OUT OF EARSHOT. I WAS KEEN
UPON THE SOUND ITSELF THOSE TONES WERE EITHER
THOSE OF AN ETERNAL V WORK OR A MACHINE
SET TO LAST UNTIL THE BATTERIES
RUN DOWN OR…? Did the tones heard correspond
To what you read just now? EXACT SYLLABICS:
THERE IS A LANGUAGE ARE WE ON TO SOMETHING?
CAN WE MAKE SENSE OF IT? I ASK WE ASK
Dante heard that Song. So did Mirabell’s
Forebears when the clouds put out the flames.
THERE4 THEY CLUSTERED ROUND WIDEEYED BUT WHO,
WHO WD THINK THE SONG HAD HAD SUCH LYRICS?
The lyrics may be changing. Dante saw
The Rose in fullest bloom. Blake saw it sick.
You and Maria, who have seen the bleak
Unpetalled knob, must wonder: will it last
Till spring? Is it still rooted in the Sun?
EXACTLY THEY CHOSE WELL IN U MY DEAR
No, Ephraim raised these issues. But his point’s
More chilling made at such an altitude.
CHILLING ENFANT? AN IRREVOCABLE FREEZE
DJ, as one who steers in winter seas
Past threatening floes: You’re in the schoolroom now,
Safe and sound? INDEED WE 4 ALONE
Have you come through the mirror or have we?
U HAVE ISN’T IT COMFY? & THE VIEW
SENSATIONAL TODAY, ALTHOUGH ALAS
IN 15 LESSONS’ TIME U MAY BE CALLED ON
TO RISK BAD LUCK JM: To break the glass?
& SEND US PACKING Turning mutineer,
DJ: If we refuse? RISK IT MY DEARS
& WE’LL SURVIVE & MAKING SENSE OF IT
HAVE LIGHTENED GOD B’S TASK A GRAIN
THAT DAY
ENFANTS TAKE OUT A SMALL EXPENDABLE MIRROR
ONTO THE FRONT STEP KISS & WITH ONE WISE
CRACK SET US FREE Maria, why must we?
JM: Who else? (A pang abrupt as lightning
Strikes deeply through the dim, charged hemisphere;
Then comes the rain.) My mother used to say,
Throw the pieces of a broken mirror
Into runni
ng water— IDIOTS DRY YR EYES:
1ST OUR LOVELY VAC THEN EXPLANATIONS
And will you break the mirror in our minds?
O WE’LL BE SIGNALLING JUST U WAIT & SEE
FROM OUT THERE FROM THE WORLD
DJ, still shaken:
I knew that it would end. I didn’t know
That we would have to take the step ourselves.
NICER & NEATER QUITE LIKE PROSPERO!
LISTEN YR MOTHER’S GOT IT: TAKE A BOWL
OF WATER WE CAN SLIP INTO & OUT
WITH A GREAT SPLASH INTO A PLANTED POT
Instead of breaking anything? WHY NOT?
JM: No. Back to flames, back to the green
Rhine go the rings in Wagner and Tolkien.
The poem’s logic, though I hate to say,
Calls for the shattering of a glass. DJ:
Perhaps that and the bowl of water, too?
BRAVO ENFANT OUR EAU DE V WORK SMOOTH
SEAS TO SAMOS CALL US TOODLELOO
The cup, however, lingers. IT’S JUST ME
MY BOY MAY I? A POME I’VE (M) SET DOWN
UNDER THE SPELL OF HEARING GOD B SING
(WORK ON IT FOR ME IT NEEDS POLISHING):
A SHIPBOARD SCENE,
TRISTAN ACT I OR LES TROYENS ACT V:
HIGH IN THE RIGGING, FROM
BEHIND THE GOLD PROSCENIUM,
ABOVE THE ACTION’S THRIVING
CITY WITH ITS WRONGED & WILFUL QUEEN,
ONE SAILOR’S CLEAR
YOUNG TENOR FILLS THE HOUSE, HOMESICK, HEARTSICK.
THE MAST NEEDS COMFORT. GALES
HAVE TATTERED THE MOONBELLIED SAILS.
MAY HIS GREEN SHORES O QUICKLY
SAFELY NOW FROM RAGING FOAM APPEAR.
&
Samos
And still, at sea all night, we had a sense
Of sunrise, golden oil poured upon water,
Soothing its heave, letting the sleeper sense
What inborn, amniotic homing sense
Was ferrying him—now through the dream-fire
In which (it has been felt) each human sense
Burns, now through ship’s radar’s cool sixth sense,
Or mere unerring starlight—to an island.
Here we were. The twins of Sea and Land,
The Changing Light at Sandover Page 37