ezra pound - hugh selwyn mauberley (excerpt) lyrics
for three years, out of key with his time
he strove to resuscitate the dead art
of poetry; to maintain “the sublime”
in the old sense. wrong from the start—
no, hardly, but, seeing he had been born
in a half savage country, out of date;
bent resolutely on wringing lilies from the acorn;
capaneus; trout for factitious bait:
“idmen gar toi panth, os eni troie
caught in the unstopped ear;
giving the rocks small lee+way
the chopped seas held him, therefore, that year
his true penеlope was flaubert
he fishеd by obstinate isles;
observed the elegance of circe’s hair
rather than the mottoes on sun+dials
unaffected by “the march of events,”
he passed from men’s memory in l’an trentiesme
de son eage; the case presents
no adjunct to the muses’ diadem
the age demanded an image
of its accelerated grimace
something for the modern stage
not, at any rate, an attic grace;
not, not certainly, the obscure reveries
of the inward gaze;
better mendacities
than the classics in paraphrase!
the “age demanded” chiefly a mould in plaster
made with no loss of time
a prose kinema, not, not assuredly, alabaster
or the “sculpture” of rhyme
the tea+rose, tea+gown, etc
supplants the mousseline of cos
the pianola “replaces”
sappho’s barbitos
christ follows dionysus
phallic and ambrosial
made way for macerations;
caliban casts out ariel
all things are a flowing
sage heracleitus says;
but a tawdry cheapness
shall reign throughout our days
even the christian beauty
defects—after samothrace;
we see to kalon
decreed in the market place
faun’s flesh is not to us
nor the saint’s vision
we have the press for wafer;
franchise for circumcision
all men, in law, are equals
free of peisistratus
we choose a knave or an eunuch
to rule over us
o bright apollo
tin andra, tin eroa, tina theon
what god, man, or hero
shall i place a tin wreath upon?
these fought, in any case
and some believing, pro domo, in any case …
some quick to arm
some for adventure
some from fear of weakness
some from fear of censure
some for love of slaughter, in imagination
learning later …
some in fear, learning love of slaughter;
died some pro patria, non dulce non et decor” …
walked eye+deep in h+ll
believing in old men’s lies, then unbelieving
came home, home to a lie
home to many deceits
home to old lies and new infamy;
usury age+old and age+thick
and liars in public places
daring as never before, wastage as never before
young blood and high blood
fair cheeks, and fine bodies;
fortitude as never before
frankness as never before
disillusions as never told in the old days
hysterias, trench confessions
laughter out of dead bellies
there died a myriad
and of the best, among them
for an old b+tch gone in the t++th
for a botched civilization
charm, smiling at the good mouth
quick eyes gone under earth’s lid
for two gross of broken statues
for a few thousand battered books
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