The Changing Light at Sandover
Page 39
WE TOO WERE YOUNG WE SAW OUR SIRES
AS UNHAPPY HELPLESS TO ADAPT.
THEY COULD NOT GRAZE ON OUR CRAMPED GREENS
& DID NOT TAKE TO OUR NEW THINGS
New things don’t stay new. How would you have taken
To the gadgets of a later age?
WELL, WE WERE NOT TRUSTED TO
I see…A moment’s sparkling silence, then:
THEY SAY YOU NOW BESTRIDE OUR BACKS
& TWO RUN AS ONE? We do indeed. It forges
A bond of strong delight. O O MY LAND
Have you no names, just numbers like the bats?
OUR SOCIETY IS SO SHATTERED
SO RUINED, WE RECALL OUR FORM
& OUR GREEN WORLD BUT WEAR THE NUMBER
OF OUR MASTER WE DO MIDDLING TASKS:
MINE, TO BE NEAR & NOT TO LISTEN
Don’t you see us in the mirror? SEE?
AH NOW I DO! LOOK HOW I LEARN!
BUT WE ARE BLANK HERE BLACK & BLANK
NO LIGHT ON A FIELD NO MOON ON A LAKE
I thought the moon was made when your world fell.
4 MOONS RINGED US THEY RUBBED THEM OUT
DJ: So when the end came you were tending
Those anchors that secured their stratosphere?
THAT IS OUR DUTY TO BE NEAR,
A VITAL ONE FOR HERE ARE VAST
NUMBERS OF OTHERS ALL AIMLESS
DRIFTING AS GNATS DO WE HAVE WORK!
WE ARE REPRIEVED FROM LIFE’S LOSS
NEED NOT MOURN LIFE UPON LIFE
BUT HAVE OUR ONE, OUR FIXED GREEN LOSS.
THEY SAY GOD CALLS US HIS FIRSTBORN
& I THE LAST OF THESE Tell how it Was.
OUR LOW GRAY ROOF RIPPED ONE DAY!
I PEERED UP & RAN! RAN!
THEN FIRE! THEN SILENCE AS THE GREAT GREENS
FELL IN ON ME! O THEN AM HERE
& MY MASTER CALLING ‘COME U WERE
THE LAST TO DIE I AM THE LAST
OF MINE TO BE MADE SO COME’ & SO…
JM: Would your master’s number be 741?
YES HE WAS NOT OF OUR UNDOING.
I TAKE HIS SIMPLER THOUGHTS TO OTHERS,
GO HERE GO THERE BUT NOW AM ALWAYS
HERE FOR HE CALLS THIS SHINING SPACE
OUR OWN PASTURAGE IF YOU APPROACH
WHEN NO ONE THEY ALLOW IS NEAR
I GUARD THE GATE, FOR THIS IS NOW THE
(Cup fairly cantering— DJ: Hot damn,
He’s getting better all the time! I AM?)
FOR THIS IS NOW THE NEW CENTER
JM: Your master, does he treat you well?
BETWEEN THE DIFFERENT KINDS OUR GOD
HAS LAID THE LAW DOWN: DIGNITY
But you and we are the same kind, in part—
Electric currents quicken brain and heart.
& SO IT IS! A GODLIER BOND!
*
TALKS WITH THE TURNKEY, CHAPS? Maria, why
Has no one mentioned this enchanting creature?
I DID PART OF THE BAT CROWD FROM THE START
EACH FEATHERED ONE HAD A 4 FOOTED FRIEND
Is he a centaur? an eohippus? NEITHER:
JUST AS U’D THINK, ONLY LONGNECKED (A LATE
ANCHORPOINT MANIFESTATION) & NO HORN
GREAT LIQUID EYES O FOR A SUGAR CUBE
A unicorn! A (M) WORD IN OUR THICK
COLLECTIVE DICTIONARY, CHAPS REMEMBER
WE’RE HERE AS IN A FRAME COMPOSED OF, O
GREAT LIZARDS WINGED LIONS THE WHOLE A PARTS
FOUNDRY FOR OUTDATED FORMS? Cocteau
Must be in clover. OUR FRENCH CIRCLE TOO
COMES UP WITH SOME ODD FORMS IN COMBINATION:
LOUIS XV & PROUST? OR DEAR COLETTE
TO SEVIGNE: ‘MME, WHAT SYMMETRY,
I BROODING ON MA MERE, YOU ON YR FILLE’
MP MEANWHILE: ‘SIRE, THE EXTRAVAGANCE!’
L XV: ‘WRITER, THE PERVERSITY!’
WYSTAN COMES AWAY DRAINED He’s Still With Plato?
INDEED GK IN LAB ME BUSY HOEING
I TOO HAVE A ‘PAPER’ TO PRESENT AT 5
& MUST BE GOING — As RM ambles in.
How are you, Robert? BRIGHTER STILL EARTHBOUND
I ASK: NO ACCIDENT? & GET WHITE SOUND
A BLUR EACH MOMENT CLOSER TO SOME CLEAR
SONG OF BLISS: ONE OF THE MARVELS HERE.
ANOTHER IS TO TALK TO THAT WORD’S NAMESAKE.
Andrew? THE VERY SAME DO I CALL HIM ANDY?
I called you Andrew in “The Summer People”.
AH THEN I CAN PRACTISE IN THE GLASS
What does he say in Heaven? Can you quote?
The cup, with a mimed clearing of its throat,
Enunciates: ‘WHAT’S WRONG WITH EMPIRES, PRAY?
GREATLY BENEFICIAL. FOR THE SUBJECTED,
DELICIOUS SUBJUGATION & FOR THE RULERS,
TERRIBLE FEARS OF LOSING, BALANCED BY
RARE OPPORTUNITIES FOR BEASTLINESS.’
Anything about poetry? EVERYTHING!
I DRINK IT IN: ‘THE LINE, MY DEAR NEW FRIEND,
THE LINE! LET IT RUN TAUT & FLEXIBLE
BETWEEN THE TWO POLES OF RHYTHM & RHYME,
& WHAT YOU HANG ON IT MAY BE AS DULL
OR AS PROVOCATIVE AS LAUNDRY.’ How does
New work get round in Heaven? WE ADEPT READERS
MERELY CALL TO MIND THE MOLECULAR PAGE
PLUS A LIVING KNOWN OR UNKNOWN AUTHOR
& THINK ‘NEW POEM PLEASE’ & PRESTO! EITHER
SOME SHAGGY DOGGEREL FROM THE COAST APPEARS
OR A SPARKLER FROM ACADEME. SAME PRINCIPLE
EXACTLY WHEREBY WE POP UP WITHIN YR
FIELD OF REFLECTION AS U THINK OF US
THEN FLASH BACK TO OUR BLIND WORK IN THE VOID
WHEN YR ATTENTION DIES
We’ve so enjoyed
Meeting the turnkey. UNICE? (I CALL IT UNICE)
CHARMING CRITTER YES YR FIRELIGHT
IS GIRT AS ON SAFARI BY THE GLITTER
OF STRANGE, STRANGE EYES He’s watching? BUT OF COURSE!
NOW TO MEET OSCAR WHERE BUT THE WHITE HORSE?
UNICE!
SIRS, WHY UNICE? Oh, it means
We like you. U are nice. Also the first
Syllables of unicorn. In Greek,
A moral victory. MY MASTER SAID
‘BE ALERT & BE AVAILABLE
& THEY MAY TALK TO YOU OR EVEN
NAME YOU AS THEY HAVE ME’ YOU HAVE!
WELL, THANK YOU WE CALL YOU THE SCRIBES
& THE NAMEGIVERS Thank you, Unice. Tell
Us more about your world? WELL I & MINE
RATHER RESEMBLE TALES WE WERE TOLD
So do we. Tales shape us, of all kind.
Myths. Novels. Awful books about “man’s mind”.
OUR MASTERS FLEW & YOU HAVE FINGERS
WE HAD NO HANDS, THERE4 NO BOOKS
JUST MOUTH TO EAR The phone rings. WELL GOODBYE
DJ: The darling! How unserious
He makes by contrast all the rest of us.
JM: That’s only part of it. He stands
For something more abstract. No wings, no hands,
That constant running…DJ: Such a shame
That Robert had to give him a girl’s name.
*
Robert Taken Up
Our friend at last gets CLEARANCE FROM 00
To see the Mirabell files. No question, though,
Of peeking at the lessons of o
ur four
Angels. MY DEARS AS USUAL THERE’S MORE
THAN MEETS THE EYE. THE 00 SPEAK OF THREATS
TO HIS ‘DEVELOPMENT’ That crowd forgets
He read those transcripts here on Earth. HE’LL READ
THEM HERE BY NEW LIGHT WHEN THOUGH? When indeed!
—For Robert’s moving, these days, like a native
In circles of the brilliant and creative.
Self-effacing, witty, kind, fair, slim,
With perfect, simple manners—next to him
Luca reverts to Milanese slum child.
Pythagoras may snort, but Proust and Wilde
Are quick to note the human gulf between
A wide-lipped earthen vessel, two poor green
Saucers that merely brim with joy and tears,
And this little Sèvres pitcher whose big ears
Take in the subtleties like milk, the gall
Like honey. Wisdom is the test of all.
Garnering here a bit and there a bit,
He’s missing nothing but the source of it.
A puzzled air of ties too quickly cut
(Family on Earth, piano shut,
Garden in bloom without him) underscores
This nature that in Heaven opens doors.
Tania Blixen wants to dress him in
Satin knee-britches—she his Marschallin?
Colette abandons—Bernhardt takes to—bed.
Alone, Jane Austen tilts but keeps her head,
Addressing him, after a moment’s droll
Quiz of gray eyes beneath the parasol,
As Mr Robert—a shrewd estimate.
He’s after all not Heir to the Estate,
Its goods and duties, but a Younger Son
Free to be ornamental and have fun.
Easy for us to meet HAVE UNICE STAMP
THEIR PASSES this whole fascinating crew.
No thanks. Enough names clog the poem. More
I couldn’t handle. That door Unice guards,
Let’s keep it shut. Or see them through your eyes.
And Robert—call him “Uni”? UP TO YOU
BUT THE DEAR CREATURE’S PRINTED ALL HIS CARDS
SIRS I AM UNICE! IT IS RARE
WHEN A BETWEENER GETS SUCH ATTENTION
AS MR ROBERT HE SPOKE OF MY LAND
HE SAID ‘MY LIFE WAS AN ATLANTIS
SUNKEN & PERFECT & DOOMED’ WAS IT?
Perhaps so. Much of himself lay under a surface
Perfect in all its arrangements. There could be
No bitterness, no daring, no regret.
Enough to doom one in the end? And yet…
MY MASTER SAYS ‘I STUDY THE SEXUAL
MODE OF MAN & AM CONTENT WITH
NUMBERS’ NOT ME! I WISH I HAD KNOWN
THAT JOY YOUR SENIOR SCRIBE JUDGES
BRIEF AT BEST WHY SO, I WONDER?
As do we. Things may be otherwise
Where all mate happily and no one dies.
I DIED TOO YOUNG TO BE A SIRE
BUT WE CALLED THE YOUNG MALE IN MY DAY
MOST FAIR WHO MERELY DREAMED OF LOVE
What else have you learned about us? 5 OF YOUR YEARS
TO LEARN YOUR TONGUE THE 00 TAUGHT US
Knowing that we’d talk? & HOW TO GUARD YOU
AGAINST THE BILLIONS THEY WD EXPLODE YR EARS!
You switch your tail and brush them off like flies?
WELL, THEY STAY CLEAR SO SEE YOU SOON
THIS IS UNICE THE UNIQUE!
(Circling the Board, comes to a stop at &
—Gate latched neatly by the ampersand.)
*
LADS FUN ASIDE, SUPPOSE THEY OFFERED ME
A LITTLE PACKET OF PRENATAL GOODIES
WHAT WD I CHOOSE? What would you choose? EXACTLY.
A TALENT? WEALTH? LOOKS? CHARM? THOSE 4 MOONS EACH
HAVE THEIR DARK SIDES ONE MUST I THINK ARRIVE
FRESH WITH CLEAR LIGHT TINTS & MINIMAL
UNDERPAINTING Painting. That’s what we’ve
Had in mind to ask you. Mirabell
Ran it down, but you who painted us—?
AT BEST INTERPRETIVE AT WORST A BOTCH.
THE GREAT ONES WORKED FROM NATURE & NATURE IF
I’VE UNDERSTOOD YR PEACOCK, IS NUMBER 2.
WHERE CD ONE HANG A PICTURE HERE? INDEED
WHOLE SQUARE MILES OF TROMPE L’OEIL ARE WHAT WE NEED!
OR SO SAY LES GONCOURTS THOSE RAVENOUS
IMAGINERS OF ‘MOVEMENTS’ ALL OF WHICH SIMPLY
MOVED FROM GROUND LEVEL TO THE 2ND (OR
AS EDMOND SAYS, THE AMERICAN 3RD) FLOOR.
BACK TO PAINTING, ALLEGORICAL SCENES
OFTEN ‘WORK’ BEST I WONDER WHAT THAT MEANS.
THEN A WEE STILL-LIFE MAY AVOID DISGRACE
BY FILLING WHOLLY SOME IDEAL SPACE
OR BRUSHES FINE AS INTUITION THINK
UP CRAGS & WATERFALLS OF CHINESE INK,
YET WHAT TO SAY WHEN MICHELANGELO
HIMSELF ADMITS (TO ICKLE ME) HE’D NO
GRASP OF IDEAS! SMALL WONDER THAT MY TIN
EAR TRUMPET NEVER BLEW A SINGLE TUNE
You’d wanted to compose. THAT WAS MY DREAM
AND IS. ANOTHER BOND WITH YOUR MM
BUT IT REQUIRES MORE MIND THAN I HAD/HAVE
DJ: That painting buried in his cave
Was pure Idea, said Raphael. WHAT CAVE?
SAID WHO? —As Wystan rushes in:
MY DEARS
WHAT CAN YR MOTHER SAY ABOUT THOSE LAB
SESSIONS WITH GEORGE! Hard to make sense of them?
HARD AS DIAMOND & AS BLAZINGLY CLEAR
Always with Plato at your elbow, no?
ROBERT?
DRAT TARSOME TINY BOB MUST GO:
TEA AT MISS AUSTEN’S (Exit.) Wystan, why’d
You do that? You sent Robert from the room.
RAPH’S CAVE & PLATO SUPERCLASSIFIED
MY BOY NOT TO UNBALANCE THE CAREER
AHEAD FOR RM HIS NEXT LIFE: THEY’RE SPARING
NOTHING DJ: To make what of him?
GUESS A composer? YES AND SUCH A ONE!
HE DOESN’T KNOW YET BUT WE
Now Maria
Interrupts: ENFANTS THESE DAYS WE 4
GATHER AT MEALS (GK SPATTERED WITH HORRORS,
WYSTAN ALL GRITTY, MAMAN GRASS-STAINED) & IN
GLIDES DEWYFACED RM NEAT AS A PIN,
CHOCKFULL OF STARRY GOSSIP & WE ROAR !
Isn’t it tomorrow we begin
Our lessons? Are your papers ready? YIPES
MAMAN GOES FIRST CAN’T DAWDLE WITH U TYPES
AU RESERVOIR
2 DAYS FROM NOW MY DEARS:
USUAL TIME B4, COLD SHOWER & STRONG
COFFEE DRESS OPTIONAL NO CIGS SO LONG
Uni has trotted up to shut the gate
When Robert hurtles past with an elate
DO DREAMS COME TRUE? I’M CALLED TO MY ADORED
MENDELSSOHN 4 HANDS AT HIS KEYBOARD!
*
The Middle Lessons: 1
The schoolroom rearranged. No desks. The dais
Flanked by chairs—an extra one for George—
And draped by a motheaten mustiness
At whose design one hesitates to guess.
Over the picture hangs some faintest pall
Of the ‘academy’—nothing one can place
Until the Brothers WE WILL NOT SAY SPRAWL
Assume positions out of the David
‘Coronation of Napoleon’—
Imperial airs that threaten to forbid
The eager give-and-take looked for by all.
Mich.
FRERES, MADAME, POETES, DOCTEUR, MAIN, BIEN VENUS!
CE DEJEUNER A CINQ PLATS AU MENU.
LE PREMIER SERA NOTRE DELICIEUSE MADAME
QUI VA NOUS RACONTER CE QUE SON AME
A DECOUVERT PENDANT SON VEGETAL SEJOUR.
COMMENCE, MADAME, COMMENCE AVEC LE PREMIER JOUR.
Rising in voluminous new leaf-
Green doctor’s robes, her notes tucked in the sleeve,
Maria with a feint of helplessness
Steps forward to deliver her address:
SIRE, VOUS AUTRES FILS DE DIEU, FAMEUX DOCTEUR,
POETES ET MAIN TRES CHERS:
(Oh dear, must it all be in our bad French?)
Mich.
DU CALME, MADAME.
MM.
THE FIRST DAY DAWNED IN THE LONG PROGRESSION OF
DAYS AND NIGHTS. WIDELY SPACED POOLS OF STEAM
LICKED THE COOLING LAND. THE VAST WATERS
OF EARTH LAY STILL. THE TEMPESTS OF FIRE & WIND
HAD PASSED, AND GOD’S BARE GLOBE LAY WAITING
FOR HIS DESCENT. THE SUN, GOD’S OLDEST CHILD
NAMED FOR OUR HELP MICHAEL, HAILED HIS SIRE
IN THE GALACTIC PANTHEON: ‘COME, FATHER, COME!’
THESE WERE THE FIRST SIGNALS SENT FROM EARTH.
SURROUNDED BY SEEDBEARERS, HIS WELLWISHING
BROTHER GODS, BIOLOGY APPROACHED:
‘MICHAEL, SUMMON MY EMMANUEL.’
‘I AM HERE, FATHER’ ‘TAKE THESE SEEDS AND RAIN THEM
ONTO EVERY SURFACE.’ AND THIS EMMANUEL DID.
SIRE, MY LORDS, CONFRERES, THAT IS MY TEXT.
MAY I BEGIN?
Mich.
MADAME, NEXT WE SHALL CALL YOU POET. IT IS SO, & SWEETLY SAID.
MM.
THESE MYTHS THAT ANTECEDE ALL MYTH ARE COUCHED
IN DAUNTING GENERALITIES. FOR MICHAEL/SUN
READ: GENERATIVE FORCE. FOR GENERATIVE FORCE
READ: RADIATION TO THE BILLIONTH POWER
OF EXPLODING ATOMS. FOR EMMANUEL,
H2O. FOR SEEDS, THAT COSMIC DUST
LADEN WITH PARTICLES OF INERT MATTER.
FOR GOD READ: GOD.
LET ME NOW SAY MY SOUL
SPEAKS FROM WITHIN THE GREENNESS OF A BLADE OF GRASS.
I TAKE THIS HUMBLE STATION TO BEST IMAGINE
HOW IT WAS, THAT FOURTH OR FIFTH DAWN, WHEN