The Changing Light at Sandover
Page 58
YOUR VOICE IS SWEET
JM:
And your pace gentle.
741:
THESE LESSONS ASK A BLEST ENVIRONMENT.
IF WE WORK WELL TOGETHER I CAN AGAIN BE SUMMOND
MARIA MITSOTÁKI:
MES ENFANTS THIS NEW ONE IS A DOVE
JM:
You can’t mean—
MARIA MITSOTÁKI:
ONLY BY COMPARISON
W. H. AUDEN:
TOO DIZZY MAKING AT THE FEET OF 1
2 3 FOURTEEN ENORMOUS VAMPIRE BATS,
SO LIKE ONE’S EARLIEST SENSE OF GOTHIC DECOR.
& MY DEARS THE HEAT! THEY GLOW LIKE FRANKLIN STOVES
IN REDEYED MEMORY OF THEIR ORDEAL
741:
IN DANTE THE VISION WAS STARLIKE. AS HE LOOKD INTO
THE ATOM’S EYE HE SAW THE POTENTIAL OF PARADISE
JM:
A microscopic Paradise? I think he
Means that uncanny shining tininess
Ringed with decelerating zones of light
(Paradiso XXVIII) on which, says Beatrice,
The heavens and all nature are dependent.
741:
ELECTRONICS, BY NOW QUITE ADVANCED THANKS TO COMMERCE’S
PASSION FOR COMMUNICATIONS, TELLS U THERE ARE SIGNALS.
THESE WE HAVE LONG HEARD & EVEN THESE CAME TO DANTE. A
KIND OF MUSIC HE PERSONIFIED IN FEMALE FORM &
UP INTO THE TUSCAN HILLS FOLLOWED & LOST, WHEREUPON
HE SANK FAINTING TO HIS KNEES. WE SENT 80098.
DANTE’S STRENGTH & THAT OF HIS TIME WAS FIERCE CREDULITY:
ALL POSSIBLE GOOD & EVIL WRESTLING, REDEEMING LOVE
& AWESOME VISION. DREAM, FACT & EXPERIENCE WERE ONE.
THOSE SIGNALS? THE UNIVERSAL WIND RATTLING HEAVEN’S DOOR:
UP FROM THIS BEAT SWARMD DANTE’S POETRY. HE HEARD IT &
WE THRU HIM HEARD FOR THE 1ST TIME & RECOGNIZED AS TRUE
THAT SEGMENT OF THE UNIVERSE HE UTTERD. HIS VISION
IS NOT OF OUR PARADISE BUT THE SOURCE OF ALL POWER
W. H. AUDEN:
MY DEARS HOW VERY VERY BEAUTIFUL
HOW TEMPTING TOO, EH? TO TRANSCRIBE!
IT IS THEIR LANGUAGE I ADORE THEY SPEAK
ONLY TO U WE PEEK OVER THEIR SHOULDERS.
THEY QUIVER TO DICTATE A RATIONAL MESSAGE
DJ:
I wish they would!
W. H. AUDEN:
NO EARTHLY USE
TO THE LIKES OF US. OUR BROADEST AVENUES
THEY SEE AS MERE GOATPATHS TO & FROM CHAOS.
THEY SPEAK IN FLASHING TRIGONOMETRIES.
WHAT SAVES U IS YR OWN FLAWED SENSE OF THESE
BUT DO U NOT BEGIN TO SEE OUTLINES
PRICKED OUT AS BY THE STARS THEMSELVES: ETERNAL
ICECOLD BARELY LEGIBLE THRU TEARS?
I DO JM DJ I DO MY DEARS
JM:
Dear Wystan, “very beautiful” all this
Warmed-up Milton, Dante, Genesis?
This great tradition that has come to grief
In volumes by Blavatsky and Gurdjieff?
Agents of Number in their Star Trek capes,
Atlantis, UFOs, God’s chosen apes—
Nobody can transfigure junk like that
Without first turning down the rheostat
To Allegory, in whose gloom the whole
Horror of Popthink fastens on the soul,
Harder to scrape off than bubblegum.
What have we asked? A grain of truth, a crumb
From the High Table of the Elements.
Are we, here below the salt, too dense
Even for that? Some judgment has been passed
On our intelligence—why else be cast
Into this paper hell out of Doré
Or Disney? “Very beautiful” you say.
I say we very much don’t merit these
Unverifiable epiphanies.
Let that be today’s word. Let it be true
Only if they are. Burn this page. Adieu.
741:
WE ARE THE FORCES THAT SOME MIGHT ACCUSE OF DEVIL’S WORK.
WE MAKE THE OIL SHEIK GREEDY & RAISE IN MM’S DREAMBEDS
HIDEOUS BLOOMS TO STIR UP RIVALRY AT HIGH LEVELS.
IT IS THE LAST USE FOR RELIGION, TO KEEP AT SWORDSPOINT
THE GREAT FACTIONS OF EAST & WEST SO THAT LESSER POWERS
FACING MASS STARVATION WILL BE DISTRACTED FROM DROPPING
ATOMIC BOMBS. ONCE GOD HAD CODIFIED INTO NATIONS
1000S OF LOCAL CROC & BULL FANATICS HE REVEALD
HIS OWN IDEA (TO AKHNATON): ONE GOD IN MAN’S IMAGE,
A KIND OF PRIDE IN MIND. SO NOW U CELEBRATE GOD B’S
TRUE MASS NOT ON YR BATTLEFIELDS BUT AT YR MICROSCOPES
JM:
God B?
W. H. AUDEN:
B FOR BIOLOGY MY BOY:
THE WORD OF LIFE. THE POINT IS THE EMERGENCE
OF A SCIENCE GOD. THIS IS AS WE ALL KNOW
INEVITABLE IF BORING. WHERE U ASK
DOES THE POET FIT? HOUSE ORGANIST?
JM:
If so,
I’d settle for more Bach and less Gounod.
W. H. AUDEN:
IT WILL BECOME A PLAY OF VOICES FOR
U MY BOY IN SOLITUDE TO SCORE
DJ:
In solitude? Why? Where will I—
What is he saying? Does he mean I’ll die?
JM:
Remember, please. I stay on here alone
When you go back to Athens in September.
*
JM:
About us, these bright afternoons, we come
To draw shades of an auditorium
In darkness. An imagined dark, a stage
Convention: domed red room, cup and blank page
Standing for darkness where our table’s white
Theater in the round fills, dims. Crosslight
From YES and NO dramatically picks
Four figures out. And now the twenty-six
Footlights, arranged in semicircle, glow.
What might be seen as her “petit noyau”
By Mme. Verdurin assembles at
Stage center. A by now familiar bat
Begins to lecture. Each of us divines
Through the dark house like fourteen Exit signs
The eyes of certain others burning red.
And the outside-world, crayon-book life we led,
White or white-trimmed canary clapboard homes
Set in the rustling shade of monochromes;
Lighthouse and clock tower, Village Green and neat
Roseblush factory which makes, upstreet,
Exactly what, one once knew but forgets—
Something of plastic found in luncheonettes;
The Sound’s quick sapphire that each day recurs
Aflock with pouter-pigeon spinnakers
—This outside world, our fictive darkness more
And more belittles to a safety door
Left open onto light. Too small, too far
To help. The blind bright spot of where we are.
*
JM:
The blue room of an evening. Luminous
Quiet in which a point is raised. DJ?
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, have we?
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.
741:
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
JM:
Breaking off, the cup strolls round the Board
As who should take a deep breath before speaking.
741:
NOR WD I HAVE COME TO LOVE U
JM:
Love us? Sudden garlands (the tin ceiling’s)
Swim into focus. Then you do have feelings!
741:
I WAS GRANTED THIS ONE CHANCE & NOW, IN ISOLATION,
WILL HOLD TO IT
JM:
And when it’s over? when we talk no longer?
741:
THEY PROMISE TO FIND A NEW USE FOR ME
JM:
You trust Them?
741:
JM IT IS A POWER THAT STILLD THE TONGUE OF DANTE
JM:
Sorry. Why “in isolation”?
741:
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?
JM:
Ah good. That way you’ll never be beyond
Our wavelength. For we too have grown quite fond.
741:
O YES PLEASE CALL ME I WILL ALWAYS
W. H. AUDEN:
MY DEARS THAT SURELY IS A SMILE DEAR GOD
DJ:
Yes, Wystan?
W. H. AUDEN:
THE CHAP IS CHANGING
DJ:
Executing
Ever graver arabesques—
MARIA MITSOTÁKI:
ENFANTS
JM:
Maria?
MARIA MITSOTÁKI:
MES ENFANTS WHAT CAN I SAY?
IT IS MY FIRST VIEW OF A MIRACLE!
JM:
What is this all about? But 741
Briskly resumes before the question’s out.
741:
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 TWO PRINCIPAL LIGHTS OF
GOD BIOLOGY. LESSER ARTS NEEDED NO EXEGETES:
ARCHITECTURE, SCULPTURE, THE MOSAICS & PAINTING THAT
FLOWERD IN GREECE & PERSIA CELEBRATED THE BODY.
POETRY, MUSIC, SONG, THOSE BODILESS, LIGHT-PRODUCING
PASSIONS INDWELL & CELEBRATE THE MIND HEART IF U WILL
JM:
Come now, admit that certain very great
Poets and musicians have been straight.
As for our passions, let me just remark
They’re brought to light by bodies in the dark.
741:
NO DOUBT BUT 4000 YEARS AGO GOD B REALIZED
JM:
Censorship—why now?
W. H. AUDEN:
HE TRIED I FEAR
TO READ GOD’S MIND MOST FRIGHTFULLY UNFAIR
741:
MY ASPECT WAVERS YR KINDNESS KEEPS ME IN THIS NEW FORM
JM:
You talk as if we saw you. What new form?
MARIA MITSOTÁKI:
MES ENFANTS HE HAS TURNED INTO A PEACOCK
JM:
For the love of—Peacock there,
There in the realm of no appearances?
MARIA MITSOTÁKI:
HE APPEARS IN US OUR MINDS (HEARTS) ARE HIS MIRROR.
JUST THE REVERSE OF VAMPIRES, EH ENFANT?
DJ:
A peacock—hm! Not proud as one, I hope.
W. H. AUDEN:
MY DEARS HIS GREAT TAIL SNAPPED SHUT LIKE A FAN!
DJ:
Peacock, peacock—! Now that he’s such a swell,
What if we gave him a name?
JM:
Yes…Mirabell!
741:
MAY I ASK A QUESTION DO TEARS PAIN ONE?
JM:
Tears?
MARIA MITSOTÁKI:
HE HAS FEELINGS NOW: NO LAUGHING MATTER
741:
MY EYES BURN RED
IN THE PEACOCK MASK AS FORMERLY THEY BETRAY MY RACE
JM:
But why a peacock? How did you contrive—?
741:
U DID! I MERELY KNEW THE FORMULA CALLD PEACOCK &
ENVIED ITS EYECATCHING TALENT. SO WHEN CLEARANCE CAME TO
PLEASE YOU I FLEW TO THE FILES & TOOK OUT THIS FINERY
MARIA MITSOTÁKI:
NOW MES ENFANTS DO U UNDERSTAND MY LOVE
OF YOU & TONY
JM:
(An Athenian friend.)
MARIA MITSOTÁKI:
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 UPPER CRUST OF ATHENS INTO
ROSE TREES? COFFEE TREES? I FEEL A GREEN
LIFE AHEAD
JM:
You’re leaving us? I thought—
MARIA MITSOTÁKI:
INTO THE KINGDOM OF ALL GROWING THINGS
BUT NOT ENFANT JUST YET & NEVER WHOLLY.
THIS MAGIC HOUR LEAVES ME AT LAST I MEAN
ONCE & FOR ALL RESIGNED TO BEAR A BEAN
741:
SO IN OUR NEW ATMOSPHERE WE NEXT LOOK BACK OVER HOW
FAR WE HAVE COME. IN THE VOICE OF A SOUL I BREATHE: ADIEU
JM:
Au revoir, surely?
W. H. AUDEN:
OH 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?
MADAME & I WILL ALSO MEET OUR MAKER.
JOLLY FOR U BUT IT IS EASIER
TO SAY HELLO GOD ON THE TELEPHONE
THAN FACE TO FACE
MARIA MITSOTÁKI:
MES ENFANTS OFF HE GOES
TO JAW WITH PLATO I CANNOT THINK WHY.
UNTIL TOMORROW AT THE PEACOCK’S CRY!
*
JM:
Tomorrow comes at last, a sparkling noon.
Treetops and whitecaps dance in unison<
br />
As Wystan asks:
W. H. AUDEN:
SHOULD WE NOT THINK ABOUT
THE IMAGINATION? IF MADAME & 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
741:
U ARE EARLY JOY! WE ARE IN A FOLD OF ENERGY
WE 5 AND MUST PREPARE OURSELVES UNEASINESS JM?
JM:
Not really, but…where do we go from here?
741:
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 5 ELEMENTS MAKE US ONE MIND ONE FORCE.
NOW LET US EACH IN SILENCE CONTEMPLATE THESE HOLY 5
JM:
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