Summer Idleness

ten thousand resultant combinations
            from the heliconian muses
                        let us begin to sing

the first religion
            soft feet deep blue spring
                        triumph of the old country

washed tender bodies
            advance to the church
                        veiled in mist thick

powder all the pots inside
            the military escort
                        delights in arrows

after the last donkey
            hope in the middle of despair
                        on the slopes of your son's wife
a pile of cocaine

delicious recoil
            from the flood of water in summer heat
phospherus lime and delicate fibers
                                    the crown of gold

habits merely an order
a shoot of sturdy laurel
                        the wood-ash covers cuddle
                                    studs the table and the pony

submit to the hearth child
            & quickly bring the golden shoes
                        worthiest gods perfect and young
                                    the swallow that perches light-footed

harmony of the temple spectacle
            the loud thunderer  glad
                        to maintain this ecstasy
                                    violets from the grave

hunters of deep sea prey,
have we caught anything?
all that we caught we left behind,
& all that we did not catch we carry home

the homes of the immortals
            inward world of thought and feeling
                        movements of the shore side

some trick of magic
            dwarved into the narrowest chamber
                        a group of impressions
walls of personality
            a solitary prisoner in perpetual flight
                        single moments apprehended

relics more or less fleeting
            vanishing away unweaving
                        all melts under our feet

the roughness of the eye
            exquisite passions
                        sleeping before evening

in the hydrogen chamber
            tell me of my cattle
                        in warlike harnesses

the truth of the old world
            more desirable
                        restoration and retention

still they survived
            every ray of sound
                        rusts iron and ripens corn

the fashion
the main a matter
the young right power
of the able-footed mule

feeling roman
spot lightning in the field
a place of sacred circumstance
a place almost stifling

gratitude to the single family
and the day of the little
private celebrations

purifications in the vineyard
the victims of the northern style
and the Latin liturgy

the procession moved on its way
though its precise meaning was long
filling large baskets
busy in the great portico

the girls of the farm
the painted chest in the hall
family records spacious and quaint

law and its entaglements
the splendor of our experience
rearranging the details


we have an interval
quickened & multiplied
and then we have no more

gods yet more mysterious
the instuments of labor lie untouched
branches of apple and cherry
in spacious bloom

clean full incense
altars more sumptuous than the old garden
the young scent
the monotonous cloud

the procession moved in absolute stillness

a pontifical formula
the ceremonies of the day
the chief points of domestic conduct
and much speculative activity

the stirring wind passing
the placid heads
the blessing of the fields

the research council
everyday in the marketplace
the rabbit whaler

details of the ceremonial
names of the no longer sacred
the morsel of honeycomb

a few violets
a cake dipped in wine
the family meal the second course
southern style

dizzy on brandy and failure
night stillness
veils of familiarity
the mirth of the evening complete

the servants at supper
in the great kitchen
the imperfect light sober

the beating of violent rain
solitude and nearness
a sort of protection

from the order of a birthday
the material abode
the red rose came first
the doubles or seconds of real things

quite blank forgetfulness
the unconsecrated host
culture of the olive and vine

the same analogy
passed in continuous dreaming
daytime extravagance
of spent substance

nearer to the dwelling-house
not without its picturesque charm
the north american land mass

young intimates of the national
cultivation of the primitive
ideal dignity of nature itself

the charm of exclusiveness
still sung
summer was not discouraged

young feelings in the richest garden
the living welcomed
the ways of sentiment
and the present whole and severe

the demands and claims of others
the early end of travelling
the sloped faces of white roads
the marsh-land below
pale red beyond the gates
playing velvet in the sea-wind
mosses on ledges and angles

marble plates slipped delicate
gracefull wildness
the decorative value of the floor

that head of Medusa
the coast of the thing
and the whitest pigeons

the sands of a fisherman's net
little glazed windows
the purple distant harbor
white breakers long-drawn curves

the peculiar sanctuary
of the shadowy people
desiring sleep and soft lines

the many folds of the veil
the pleasures of winter
the very dead warm
of generous heat

the sufferings of the animal world
and the soft lines of hands and face
the sense of some unexplored evil

the snakes breeding happily
the incident made food distasteful
and sleep uneasy

memory corners of reptiles
the lower side of the world
secret of no particular dread
a sluggish viper

childhood traditions of the past
peculiar influences never outgrown
the sense of distraction everywhere

the country and the open air
the ramble to the coast
the marsh with its dwarf roses
wild lavender

delightful signs
abandoned boats
the ruined flood-gates
the flock of wild birds

vague scents and sounds
the grave northern notes
summer idleness


_________