Poems
Sweden, Prince William of & Storey, Violet Alleyn & Mangan, John Sherry & Vinal, Harold & Ailing, Kenneth Slade & Markun, Leo
January I9, I927 THE COMMONWEAL 297 POEMS The Madonna's Lamp (Translator's Note:raThe [ollowing poem, written by H. R. H., Prince 141illiam of Sweden, at present a distinguished ~isitor to...
...The day's confusions dim...
...January I9, I927 THE COMMONWEAL 297 POEMS The Madonna's Lamp (Translator's Note:raThe [ollowing poem, written by H. R. H., Prince 141illiam of Sweden, at present a distinguished ~isitor to the United States, is a translation [rom the original 8wedish.--Thomas [4Zalsh...
...The Host-light glows...
...Then burn to ash the transcendental pages, In magic clad...
...c t u t~'l e Amid the silence tired the organ...
...O lifted tree...
...I am at ease, Alone with God, a thought of love, and rest...
...Where no fruition leaves the landscape lonely-- The day before the earliest day of spring, Which, in its self, hides all the shapes that sing...
...And you are too dear to be wholly realm Fire-drowsy yet crisply sagem Oh, hadn't I better sit down at once Before someone turns the page ? VIOLET ALLEYN SrORnY...
...Oh, these are too quaint now to be quite so--- This Chinaman chocolate pot, This musical plate, these mauve satin chairs, This fender where toast keeps hot...
...silver woven wind, Come with us too, and leave these heavens blind...
...night In this cathedral, life, brings peace: The players all have gone: there is surcease From students, sharp, experimental, bright, And from the loving cruel one who knows...
...Oh, this is too lovely to be just true m This room full of daffodils, Where windows look down on the beach and sea And up at the sky and hills...
...JOHN SHERRY MANGAN...
...PRINCE WILLIAM OF SWEDEN...
...HAROLD VINAL...
...KENNETH SLADE ALLING...
...Bring me a few Before the imps have chained me with a fetter Of morning dew...
...Now sound resolves itself to nothingness: No talent formulates, no hands impress Ripe alien lives upon the open keys...
...ront@iece They say you've stepped out of a story-book, But now I've stepped in, I know...
...we heard the thin rumble of a moving train and far Off in the night the yelp of a jaguar...
...And then one night we looked and the eyes took The wonder in no more, for what had been Canvas and rope was sky and laughing brook, A valley under stars...
...Shut up the goblin-men in subtle cages, And I shall be glad...
...The Great Tent The circus Came...
...LEO MAR/tUN...
...re.sa~e Come trees, we'll troop away awhile to find Another country...
...7 he Precocious Ghild Speaks Bring me the moon to keep my fear away, For here it is dark...
...And let the spheres sing me a roundelay, Because they are stark...
...A place that's panoplied with promise only...
...Twas never a door that I came through but A cover that opened so...
...No more the tortured soul, too skilfully keyed, Pours out responsive sound from varied reed...
...The great tent rose, the cars Brought elephants and monkeys and we had The joy of watching how, beneath the stars Trinidad flourished, Seville or Bagdad...
...When we, two friends from childhood, wanderers are, And fate like dice would cast me 'gainst thewall-With paths before me steep where many a scar And only echoings attend my call-- Then will your face across my memory fall Like some Madonna dimly shrined afar Where I shall be the lamp's unquenching star To shed a tender radiance over all...
...Long as the oil shall last, the flame shall light The soft reflection of two eyes as bright As in those happy days we used to know...
...Then should it shrink and flicker out of sight Still, still the mild Madonna face will glow Although the lamp has darkened long ago...
...And as if we had all touched suddenly Aladdin's lamp, a wonder came to pass, A world took shape beneath a canopy, A magic moved where had been only grass...
...The stars will ward off fear, for lack of better...
...That is this country's sole remembering...
...Not that which is, but that which is to be, The undiscoverable ecstasy, We seek---O lovely wind...
...And from the bellows that it has possessed The energy departs...
Vol. 5 • January 1927 • No. 11
