She hears, upon that water without sound, A voice that cries, “The tomb in Palestine Is not the porch of spirits lingering. It is the grave of Jesus, where he lay.” We live in an old chaos of the sun, Or old dependency of day and night, Or island solitude, unsponsored, free, Of that wide water, inescapable. Deer walk upon our mountains, and the quail Whistle about us their spontaneous cries; Sweet berries ripen in the wilderness; And, in the isolation of the sky, At evening, casual flocks of pigeons make Ambiguous undulations as they sink, Downward to darkness, on extended wings.

The Virgin Carrying a Lantern

There are no bears among the roses, Only a negress who supposes Things false and wrong

About the lantern of the beauty Who walks, there, as a farewell duty, Walks long and long.

The pity that her pious egress Should fill the vigil of a negress With heat so strong!

Stars at Tallapoosa

The lines are straight and swift between the stars. The night is not the cradle that they cry, The criers, undulating the deep-oceaned phrase. The lines are much too dark and much too sharp.

The mind herein attains simplicity, There is no moon, no single, silvered leaf. The body is no body to be seen But is an eye that studies its black lid.

Let these be your delight, secretive hunter, Wading the sea-lines, moist and ever-mingling, Mounting the earth-lines, long and lax, lethargic. These lines are swift and fall without diverging.

The melon-flower nor dew nor web of either Is like to these. But in yourself is like: A sheaf of brilliant arrows flying straight, Flying and falling straightway for their pleasure,

Their pleasure that is all bright-edged and cold; Or, if not arrows, then the nimblest motions, Making recoveries of young nakedness And the lost vehemence the midnights hold.

Explanation

Ach, Mutter, This old, black dress, I have been embroidering French flowers on it.

Not by way of romance, Here is nothing of the ideal, Nein, Nein.

It would have been different, Liebchen, If I had imagined myself, In an orange gown, Drifting through space, Like a figure on the church-wall.

Six Significant Landscapes