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Title: Lustra of Ezra Pound
Author: Ezra Pound
Bai Li
Contributor: Ernest Fenollosa
Release date: September 16, 2017 [eBook #55564]
Most recently updated: October 23, 2024
Language: English
Credits: Chuck Greif, ellinora, Bryan Ness and the
Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
(This file was produced from images generously made
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LUSTRA OF EZRA POUND ***
LUSTRA OF EZRA POUND
L U S T R A
OF
EZRA POUND
Definition—“Lustrum: an offering for the sins of the whole
people, made by the censors at the expiration of their
five years of office.”
Elementary Latin Dictionary of Charlton T. Lewis.
people, made by the censors at the expiration of their
five years of office.”
Elementary Latin Dictionary of Charlton T. Lewis.
LONDON
ELKIN MATHEWS, CORK STREET
M CM XVI
Certain of these poems have appeared in Poetry, Blast, Poetry
and Drama, Smart Set, and Others, to the editors of which
magazines the author wishes to make due acknowledgment.
and Drama, Smart Set, and Others, to the editors of which
magazines the author wishes to make due acknowledgment.
E. P.
V. L.
Cui dono lepidum novum libellum.
CONTENTS
LUSTRA OF EZRA POUND
Tenzone
Will people accept them?
(i.e. these songs).
As a timorous wench from a centaur
(or a centurion),
Already they flee, howling in terror.
(i.e. these songs).
As a timorous wench from a centaur
(or a centurion),
Already they flee, howling in terror.
Will they be touched with the verisimilitudes?
Their virgin stupidity is untemptable.
I beg you, my friendly critics,
Do not set about to procure me an audience.
Their virgin stupidity is untemptable.
I beg you, my friendly critics,
Do not set about to procure me an audience.
I mate with my free kind upon the crags;
the hidden recesses
Have heard the echo of my heels,
in the cool light,
in the darkness.
the hidden recesses
Have heard the echo of my heels,
in the cool light,
in the darkness.
The Condolence
A mis soledades voy,
De mis soledades vengo,
Porque por andar conmigo
Mi bastan mis pensamientos.
Lope de Vega.
De mis soledades vengo,
Porque por andar conmigo
Mi bastan mis pensamientos.
Lope de Vega.
O my fellow sufferers, songs of my youth,
A lot of asses praise you because you are “virile,”
We, you, I! We are “Red Bloods”!
Imagine it, my fellow sufferers—
Our maleness lifts us out of the ruck,
Who’d have foreseen it?
A lot of asses praise you because you are “virile,”
We, you, I! We are “Red Bloods”!
Imagine it, my fellow sufferers—
Our maleness lifts us out of the ruck,
Who’d have foreseen it?
O my fellow sufferers, we went out under the trees,
We were in especial bored with male stupidity.
We went forth gathering delicate thoughts,
Our “fantastikon” delighted to serve us.
We were not exasperated with women,
for the female is ductile.
We were in especial bored with male stupidity.
We went forth gathering delicate thoughts,
Our “fantastikon” delighted to serve us.
We were not exasperated with women,
for the female is ductile.
And now you hear what is said to us:
We are compared to that sort of person
Who wanders about announcing his sex
As if he had just discovered it.
Let us leave this matter, my songs,
and return to that which concerns us.
We are compared to that sort of person
Who wanders about announcing his sex
As if he had just discovered it.
Let us leave this matter, my songs,
and return to that which concerns us.
The Garret
Come let us pity those who are better off than we are.
Come, my friend, and remember
that the rich have butlers and no friends,
And we have friends and no butlers.
Come let us pity the married and the unmarried.
Come, my friend, and remember
that the rich have butlers and no friends,
And we have friends and no butlers.
Come let us pity the married and the unmarried.
Dawn enters with little feet
like a gilded Pavlova,
And I am near my desire.
Nor has life in it aught better
Than this hour of clear coolness,
the hour of waking together.
like a gilded Pavlova,
And I am near my desire.
Nor has life in it aught better
Than this hour of clear coolness,
the hour of waking together.
The Garden
En robe de parade.
Samain.
Samain.
Like a skein of loose silk blown against a wall
She walks by the railing of a path in Kensington Gardens,
And she is dying piece-meal
of a sort of emotional anæmia.
She walks by the railing of a path in Kensington Gardens,
And she is dying piece-meal
of a sort of emotional anæmia.
And round about there is a rabble
Of the filthy, sturdy, unkillable infants of the very poor.
They shall inherit the earth.
Of the filthy, sturdy, unkillable infants of the very poor.
They shall inherit the earth.
In her is the end of breeding.
Her boredom is exquisite and excessive.
She would like someone to speak to her,
And is almost afraid that I
will commit that indiscretion.
Her boredom is exquisite and excessive.
She would like someone to speak to her,
And is almost afraid that I
will commit that indiscretion.
Ortus
How have I laboured?
How have I not laboured
To bring her soul to birth,
To give these elements a name and a centre!
How have I not laboured
To bring her soul to birth,
To give these elements a name and a centre!
She is beautiful as the sunlight, and as fluid.
She has no name, and no place.
How have I laboured to bring her soul into separation;
To give her a name and her being!
She has no name, and no place.
How have I laboured to bring her soul into separation;
To give her a name and her being!
Surely you are bound and entwined,
You are mingled with the elements unborn;
I have loved a stream and a shadow.
You are mingled with the elements unborn;
I have loved a stream and a shadow.
I beseech you enter your life.
I beseech you learn to say “I”
When I question you:
For you are no part, but a whole;
No portion, but a being.
I beseech you learn to say “I”
When I question you:
For you are no part, but a whole;
No portion, but a being.
Salutation
O generation of the thoroughly smug
and thoroughly uncomfortable,
I have seen fishermen picnicking in the sun,
I have seen them with untidy families,
I have seen their smiles full of teeth
and heard ungainly laughter.
and thoroughly uncomfortable,
I have seen fishermen picnicking in the sun,
I have seen them with untidy families,
I have seen their smiles full of teeth
and heard ungainly laughter.
And I am happier than you are,
And they were happier than I am;
And the fish swim in the lake
and do not even own clothing.
And they were happier than I am;
And the fish swim in the lake
and do not even own clothing.
The Spring
Cydonian spring with her attendant train,
Maelids and water-girls,
Stepping beneath a boisterous wind from Thrace,
Throughout this sylvan place
Spreads the bright tips,
And every vine-stock is
Clad in new brilliancies.
And wild desire
Falls like black lightning.
O bewildered heart,
Though every branch have back what last year lost,
She, who moved here amid the cyclamen,
Moves only now a clinging tenuous ghost.
Maelids and water-girls,
Stepping beneath a boisterous wind from Thrace,
Throughout this sylvan place
Spreads the bright tips,
And every vine-stock is
Clad in new brilliancies.
And wild desire
Falls like black lightning.
O bewildered heart,
Though every branch have back what last year lost,
She, who moved here amid the cyclamen,
Moves only now a clinging tenuous ghost.
Albâtre
This lady in the white bath-robe which she calls a peignoir
Is, for the time being, the mistress of my friend,
And the delicate white feet of her little white dog
Are not more delicate than she is,
Nor would Gautier himself have despised their contrasts in whiteness
As she sits in the great chair
Between the two indolent candles.
Is, for the time being, the mistress of my friend,
And the delicate white feet of her little white dog
Are not more delicate than she is,
Nor would Gautier himself have despised their contrasts in whiteness
As she sits in the great chair
Between the two indolent candles.
Causa
I join these words for four people,
Some others may overhear them,
O world, I am sorry for you,
You do not know these four people.
Some others may overhear them,
O world, I am sorry for you,
You do not know these four people.
A Pact
I make a pact with you, Walt Whitman—
I have detested you long enough.
I come to you as a grown child
Who has had a pig-headed father;
I am old enough now to make friends.
It was you that broke the new wood,
Now is a time for carving.
We have one sap and one root—
Let there be commerce between us.
I have detested you long enough.
I come to you as a grown child
Who has had a pig-headed father;
I am old enough now to make friends.
It was you that broke the new wood,
Now is a time for carving.
We have one sap and one root—
Let there be commerce between us.
Surgit Fama
There is a truce among the gods,
Korè is seen in the North
Skirting the blue-gray sea
In gilded and russet mantle.
Korè is seen in the North
Skirting the blue-gray sea
In gilded and russet mantle.
The corn has again its mother and she, Leuconoë,
That failed never women,
Fails not the earth now.
That failed never women,
Fails not the earth now.
The tricksome Hermes is here;
He moves behind me
Eager to catch my words,
Eager to spread them with rumour;
To set upon them his change
Crafty and subtle;
To alter them to his purpose;
But do thou speak true, even to the letter:
He moves behind me
Eager to catch my words,
Eager to spread them with rumour;
To set upon them his change
Crafty and subtle;
To alter them to his purpose;
But do thou speak true, even to the letter:
“Once more in Delos, once more is the altar a-quiver.
Once more is the chant heard.
Once more are the never abandoned gardens
Full of gossip and old tales.”
Once more is the chant heard.
Once more are the never abandoned gardens
Full of gossip and old tales.”
Preference
It is true that you say the gods are more use to you than fairies,
But for all that I have seen you
on a high, white, noble horse,
Like some strange queen in a story.
But for all that I have seen you
on a high, white, noble horse,
Like some strange queen in a story.
It is odd that you should be covered with long robes
and trailing tendrils and flowers;
It is odd that you should be changing your face
and resembling some other woman to plague me;
It is odd that you should be hiding yourself
In the cloud of beautiful women who do not concern me.
and trailing tendrils and flowers;
It is odd that you should be changing your face
and resembling some other woman to plague me;
It is odd that you should be hiding yourself
In the cloud of beautiful women who do not concern me.
And I, who follow every seed-leaf upon the wind?
You will say that I deserve this.
You will say that I deserve this.
Dance Figure
For the Marriage in Cana of Galilee
Dark eyed,
O woman of my dreams,
Ivory sandaled,
There is none like thee among the dancers,
None with swift feet.
O woman of my dreams,
Ivory sandaled,
There is none like thee among the dancers,
None with swift feet.
I have not found thee in the tents,
In the broken darkness.
I have not found thee at the well-head
Among the women with pitchers.
In the broken darkness.
I have not found thee at the well-head
Among the women with pitchers.
Thine arms are as a young sapling under the bark;
Thy face as a river with lights.
Thy face as a river with lights.
White as an almond are thy shoulders;
As new almonds stripped from the husk.
As new almonds stripped from the husk.
Gilt turquoise and silver are in the place of thy rest.
A brown robe, with threads of gold woven in patterns,
hast thou gathered about thee,
O Nathat-Ikanaie, “Tree-at-the-river.”
A brown robe, with threads of gold woven in patterns,
hast thou gathered about thee,
O Nathat-Ikanaie, “Tree-at-the-river.”
As a rillet among the sedge are thy hands upon me;
Thy fingers a frosted stream.
Thy fingers a frosted stream.
Thy maidens are white like pebbles;
Their music about thee!
Their music about thee!
There is none like thee among the dancers;
None with swift feet.
None with swift feet.
April
Nympharum membra disjecta.
Three spirits came to me
And drew me apart
To where the olive boughs
Lay stripped upon the ground:
Pale carnage beneath bright mist.
And drew me apart
To where the olive boughs
Lay stripped upon the ground:
Pale carnage beneath bright mist.