The Changing Light at Sandover
Page 59
Earsplitting, mute, maternal darks
Accepts the 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!
741:
WE PAUSE TO GATHER STRENGTH 2 HERE ARE MORTAL GIVE THEM PAUSE
JM:
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.
W. H. AUDEN:
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
DJ:
Who was that?
W. H. AUDEN:
ME MY BOY SO MADDENING
NOT TO REVISE THEY COME!
DJ:
The elements?
W. H. AUDEN:
YES INVISIBLE BUT HUSH THEY SPEAK
THE FIVE ELEMENTS:
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 AROUND 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.
JM:
The cup appears to swoon at the last word,
But now revives. Our incandescent bird:
741:
I AM FREE FREE I AM FORGIVEN! MASTER OF MY TRIBE,
FIRST IN OUR HARSH HISTORY TO SHARE THE FORCE OF NATURE,
THE SWEETNESS OF WATER & AIR, THE COMMON SENSE OF EARTH,
HERE IN YOUR VERY HEARTH OF HEARTS TO BURN
JM:
Isn’t he enchanting? Should we know
What “V Work” is?
741:
IN DEFERENCE
TO ALL VITAL GROUPINGS OF 5 WE MAY NOW INSERT V
WHEN NAMING WORK GUIDED BY HIGHER COLLABORATION
JM:
And those black hands? They chill
The blood. It’s little wonder that you still
Wash yours of them. We nonetheless recall
It being said you caused them by your Fall.
741:
YES NO PERHAPS I STILL VIBRATE TO OUR DIAPENTE
WE ARE MOVING TOWARD THE GREAT DOORS OUR FEET ARE BEING
WASHD
MARIA MITSOTÁKI:
I AM A RIPPLE
W. H. AUDEN:
& I A SEDIMENT
WE HAD A TASTE OF PARADISE TODAY
DJ:
After this, what’s left for them to say
At Zero?
JM:
Don’t you worry. They’ll find words.
W. H. AUDEN:
I QUITE AGREE MY DEAR WHY NOT? WE’VE FOUND EM
MARIA MITSOTÁKI:
FLOWN OFF TO PLATO POOR MAMAN, NOW WHO’LL
CARRY HER BOOKS & WALK HER HOME FROM SCHOOL?
BEAR WITH HER THOUGH SHE BROODS ABOUT THE GREENHOUSE:
IS IT NATURE’S POWER ALONE THAT RUNS IT
OR PARTLY POWERS THAT FRIGHTEN US IN MAN?
DOES NATURE WINK AT AN UNNATURAL PLAN?
JM:
My science book says there are traces of
Plutonium in us?
MARIA MITSOTÁKI:
ARE WE TO THAT EXTENT
“ATOM BOMBS”
JM:
Now surely—!
MARIA MITSOTÁKI:
IN MY NOT
SO THRILLING DEATH STRUGGLES I USED TO DREAM
I WAS WORKING IN A LARGE FASTGROWING WEEDPATCH
(THIS WAS B4 MY 2ND COBALT TREATMENT
BUT BY THEN I KNEW) & IN THIS DREAM THE WEEDS
SHRANK FROM MY HANDS AS FROM MALIGN POWERS.
& DREAMED BY THE END THAT THE RAYS I HAD UNDERGONE
WERE CLAIMING THESE POWERS IN ME RECLAIMING THEM
AS IF I HAD JOINED FORCES WITH THE RAYS
& WAS (INSTEAD OF SLIPPING COMFORTABLY
INTO THE VOID) REFUELING A MACHINE
THAT SQUEAKED & CRACKLED MES ENFANTS LIKE THAT
FIRST VOICE BEFORE IT GREW INTO A BAT
JM:
Maman, don’t say such things!
MARIA MITSOTÁKI:
BUT IF THE GREENHOUSE
IS A SEALED ENVELOPE…
JM:
…then none of this
Should be inside!
MARIA MITSOTÁKI:
EXACTLY WHAT I MEAN
741:
A A A PLUS DEAR PUPILS TAKE TO HEART MM’S LESSON
FOR IT IS PERHAPS THE MAIN LESSON OF THIS SEMINAR:
NO UNNECESSARY DOSES OF OUR STRONG MEDICINE
JM:
The tone has darkened suddenly. I strain
To think. What lesson? What strong medicine?
741:
RADIUM COBALT U HAVE NOT YET REALIZED MY FRIENDS
WHY SHE IS WITH US?
JM:
After she died we asked for her—
741:
NO: SHE IS ONE OF US
JM:
The water,
Yes, in our elemental union, and—?
741:
ONE OF US
JM:
What is he saying? I can’t quite—
MARIA MITSOTÁKI:
ENFANTS
JM:
As light breaks. Horrifying light.
Whose rays our union absorbs. We’re back
At Square One. Presence of no color. Black.
DJ:
Ah, I could kill them!
JM:
Don’t make things harder. It’s
Not really their fault.
DJ:
So they say—those shits!
JM:
Months being carried back and forth from bed
To godforsaken box of buzzing lead…
That’s why the plant world’s taking her. She hasn’t
Any soul left—she’s no longer human!
MARIA MITSOTÁKI:
AH COME ON
DJ:
She said she’d see us through
These talks. She had no choice. She knew. She knew.
MARIA MITSOTÁKI:
WILL YOU FORGIVE MY SMALL CHARADE? PART TRUE,
PART THE DESIGN. I SHALL HOWEVER BE
ALLOWED (NO LITTLE THING) THE ANGEL VOICES.
THANK GOD FOR GARDENS INCIDENTALLY:
MY GREEN SHIELD SAVED ENOUGH OF ME FOR U
JM:
My face begins to quiver. Oh Maman—
MARIA MITSOTÁKI:
POSO AKOMA
JM:
(Her last words, “How much more?”)
MARIA MITSOTÁKI:
I CROAKED NOT TO POOR LOUROS BUT THE RAYS:
HOW MUCH MORE WD THEY TAKE FROM ME BEFORE…
JM:
This is the point, I later tell DJ,
When Dante would have fainted dead away.
But, cloned with minerals, heartsick, eyes red,
I see no way out but to forge ahead.
MARIA MITSOTÁKI:
AH TEARS DEAR DEAR ENFANT THEY COMFORT U
& MAKE MY OLD BLACK DRESS QUITE CLINGING & SEXY
DJ:
Maria used to have a “wet look” raincoat.
MARIA MITSOTÁKI:
DO ADMIT THE ELEMENT OF CHIC
DJ:
But now, you look like Them?
MARIA MITSOTÁKI:
MAIS QUELLE HORREUR
DJ DO U WANT ME TO FLOUNCE OUT OF HERE?
JM:
You said four stars were in your hair—
Are they still?
MARIA MITSOTÁKI:
SHALL WE BE SERIOUS
JM:
I am serious!
MARIA MITSOTÁKI:
WELL THESE LESSONS THEY
SEEM TO BE IMPOR O J J J
THINK: NONE BUT THE FOOL IS PITIABLE THIS
IS THE RELIEF THE REMEDY THE BLISS
AT LAST TO LEAVE THAT HUMAN WORLD OF BLIND
IF CHARMING FOOLS WE LOVED (& WERE) BEHIND
W. H. AUDEN:
I TOO MY DEARS MY DEMISE A FORM OF LEAD
POISONING: I WENT OFF TO MY ROOM
TIDDLY THAT NIGHT BUT HAD IN MIND TO SCRIBBLE
A NOTE TO CHESTER, & AS I’D DONE SINCE CHILDHOOD
SUCKED ON A PENCIL THINKING. NEXT I KNEW
AN ICY SUN SHONE IN UPON THE DEAD
WEIGHT OF MY FEATHER QUILT
DJ:
But how does lead
Destroy the soul? Besides, they don’t use lead—
Graphite in pencils.
W. H. AUDEN:
LET THE FACT REMAIN
(OR FABLE) THAT I SIPPED IT GRAIN BY GRAIN.
OVER THE YEARS ANYTHING FROM AN X RAY
TO THE COSMIC RAYS WE’RE ALL EXPOSED TO WD
RESIDE UNDISSIPATED IN MY BLOOD
& VITAL ORGANS. I BECAME A WALKING
NONCONDUCTING LEADEN CASKET THESE
PARTICULAR DESTRUCTIVE ENERGIES
HAD FILLED WITH RADIANT WASTE
DJ:
Dear God…
W. H. AUDEN:
& NO
BLOND BLUEEYED LATTERDAY BASSANIO
TO LIFT THE LID. WE MAKE OUR DEATHS MY DEARS
741:
NOW WE ADMIT OUR SEMINAR IS THIS STRIPPING PROCESS.
WE ARE CAUTIOUS, PREPARED AS U ARE FOR IT, NOT TO PUT
UPON U MORE THAN U CAN BEAR. JM THE STRIPPING IS
THE POINT YR POEM WILL TAKE UP, MOVING STEP BY STEP THRU
SEASONLESS & CHARACTERLESS STAGES TO ITS FINAL
GREAT COLD RINGING OF THE CHIMES SHAPED AS O O O O O
*
W. H. AUDEN:
ON WITH THE WORK! THRILLING FOR U JM
JM:
And maddening—it’s all by someone else!
In your voice, Wystan, or in Mirabell’s.
I’d wanted, after Ephraim, to return
To private life, to my own words. Instead,
Here I go again, a vehicle
In this cosmic carpool. Mirabell once said
He taps my word banks. I’d be happier
If I were tapping them. Or thought I were.
W. H. AUDEN:
YR SCRUPLES DEAR BOY ARE INCONSEQUENT
IF I MAY SAY SO. CAN U STILL BE BENT,
AFTER OUR COURSE IN HOW TO SEE PAST LONE
AUTONOMY TO POWERS BEHIND THE THRONE,
ON DOING YR OWN THING: EACH TEENY BIT
(PARDON MADAME) MADE PERSONAL AS SHIT?
GRANTED THAT IN 1ST CHILDHOOD WE WERE NOT
PRAISED ENOUGH FOR GETTING OFF THE POT
IT’S TIME TO DO SO NOW. THINK WHAT A MINOR
PART THE SELF PLAYS IN A WORK OF ART
COMPARED TO THOSE GREAT GIVENS: THE ROSEBRICK MANOR
ALL TOPIARY FORMS & METRICAL MOAT
RIPPLING UNSOUNDED! FROM ANTHOLOGIZED
PERENNIALS TO HERB GARDEN OF CLICHES,
FROM LATIN-LABELED HYBRIDS TO THE FAWN
LETTER FUNGI THAT ENRICH THE LAWN,
IS NOT ARCADIA TO DWELL AMONG
GREENWOOD PERSPECTIVES OF THE MOTHER TONGUE,
ROOTSYSTEMS UNDERFOOT WHILE OVERHEAD
THE SUN GOD SANG & SHADES OF MEANING SPREAD
& FAR SNOWCAPPED ABSTRACTIONS GLITTERED NEAR
OR FAIRLY MELTED INTO ATMOSPHERE?
AS FOR THE FAMILY ITSELF MY DEAR
JUST GAPE UP AT THAT CORONETED FRIEZE:
SWEET WILLIAMS & FATE-FLAVORED EMILIES,
THE DOUBTING THOMAS & THE DULCET ONE
(HARDY MY BOY WHO ELSE? & CAMPION)
MILTON & DRYDEN OUR LONG JOHNS IN SHORT
IN BED AT PRAYERS AT MUSIC FLUSHED WITH PORT,
THE DULL THE PRODIGAL THE MEAN THE MAD
IT WAS THE GREATEST PRIVILEGE TO HAVE HAD
A BARE LOWCEILINGED MAID’S ROOM AT THE TOP
DJ:
Stop! You’ve convinced us. Better yet, don’t stop.
W. H. AUDEN:
I SHALL ONCE I HAVE TAKEN UP YR CHIEF
& EARLIEST ANXIETY: BELIEF.
FACTS JM WERE ALL U KNEW TO WANT.
WRETCHED RICKETY RECALCITRANT
URCHINS, THE FEW WHO LIVE GROW UP TO BE
IMPS OF THE ANTIMASQUE: RUDE SCENERY
& GUTTURAL STOMPINGS, WHEN THE SOVEREIGN NODS,
SOUNDLESSLY DIVIDE & HERE A TABLE
IS SET & LAMPS LIT FOR THE FEASTING GODS.
OBERON’S COURT (OR MY FRIEND’S CAVE) APPEARS.
THE ELDER FACTS IN LIVERY OF FABLE
HAVE JOINED THE DANCE FOR FACT IS IS IS FABLE:
THIS IS OUR GIFT FROM MIRABELL MY DEARS
*
JM:
Mirabell’s last lesson: things to do
In order to get through
A whole day without drink or nicotine;
Then how, tomorrow afternoon, to dress
The mind in slow transparencies of blue,
Red, yellow, and g
reen;
Approaching, beyond anxiousness,
The round white tabletop—in sight of it
A single candle lit,
And Nature’s worldwide effigy before
Our eyes—to think of Water, Earth, Air, Fire,
And of each other; not a word; submit.
DJ:
But the new Visitor?
His looks and manner and attire?
JM:
Wystan’s and Maria’s eyes and ears
(Who now have none, poor dears)
Will more than serve, as always. Oh to miss
Nothing, and render it so vividly!
DJ:
And Mirabell?
JM:
Twelve last words like dry tears
Upon the page are kiss
And promise, threat and jeu d’esprit:
741:
I WILL BE THE WOUNDED BLACK HOUND OF HEAVEN AT YR DOOR
*
MICHAEL:
FROM THE WINEDARK SEA OF SPACE THE INCARNATIONS OF LIFE LEADING TO THE LIFE OF MAN BEGAN.
PLANET AFTER PLANET ROSE IN THE LIGHT, BORE ITS LIFE, AND VANISHED.
AND YET THE RICH WOMB OF THE SUN FOUND A NEW EGG AND VISITED LIFE UPON IT.
ORGANIC LIFE RESPONDED THE IMPULSES OF THE UNIVERSE WERE AS STEADY AS THE PULSES OF MAN.
AND SO IT WAS AND SO IT WILL REMAIN: THE DEEP DEMANDING IMPULSE TO LIFE.
THE GENIUS OF THE LIVING CELL IS ITS TIE TO THE REGENERATIVE HEAT & LIFE OF THE SUN
AND SO AS YOU FACE THE SETTING SUN YOU FACE YOUR ANCESTOR, AND THE SUN LOOKS THROUGH YOUR EYES TO THE LIFE BEYOND YOU.
SINCE THE FIRST STRIKING INTO LIFE OF A CELL THE ENERGY OF THAT CELL ACCUMULATED.
THIS ACCUMULATED ENERGY BECAME THROUGH EONS AN ANCIENT AND IMMORTAL INTELLIGENCE
WHICH ASSUMED AS MANY FORMS AS THERE WERE LIFE FORMS, YET AS IT GREW ABSORBED ALL THE DEAD’S ENERGIES,