THE INHOSPITABLE THE ship weighs anchor, voyages here and there ; The Port beyond the last port it shall seek Is harbour less, inhospitably, bare. The Nameless Name no finite tongue can speak, The Single with which nothing can compare, The All-Wealth which the mind makes poor and bleak,— Through that last pellucid Ether the eyes most blankly stare. October 9, 1936. Page-212

THEY CAME THEY came—the woodland water Was lightly .shadowed By the gauzy tumult of their wings. Then tiny shrillings and such little laughters As hardly shook or stirred the air-built web Of attercops upon the bramble thorn. It was some distillation from the autumn, When the un havened windings of hearts' loneliness Are trembling on the verge of bodiment In those white-mist-drenched mornings Where the gossamer is dew-silvered Among still mushrooms on the upland field. April 5, 1936 Page-180

THE AGED QEEN HELEN CROSSES THE COURTYARD (The speakers are PENELEUS, one of the former suitors of HELEN, and NELIBES and METHYMNAEUS) M. "I saw the Queen two sun downs back File with her shadow in the evening light That filled the outer courtyard." P. " She filed with more than that, Methymnaeus ; With half-dissolving memories of Troy, Converging whispers of far-off renown, A shadowy splendour that her ruined frame Lets faintly through." N. " But she is lame, dim-sighted, And half oblivious of this changing show." M. " She is not very sad or very gay." P.

BACK TO SANITY WHITE with wandering snowflakes All the air is gay,. And this the soldiers' row breaks And sends the guns away. Look at the glittering bubble Or sheets of shining rain When April o'erleaps trouble And Spring has outstripped pain. Peer at a flicker of lightning, Hearken tothunder's game ; Forget the war-noose tightening, Paint out the Warlord's name. Only the narrowing lie hood, Unworthiest fear and greed Sanction the vampire spy hood, Send the cannon their feed. Wideness of sky as banner And Earth as the motherland,— Hurtle Good Sense as

ESCAPADE THREE fairies went aleaping Adown the glades of May ; They found a field mouse keeping A woodland holiday. Quoth they, " Where is your burrow ? Our gifts we would bestow." Quoth he, " In yonder furrow Where the yellow thistles grow." " Here's one puff ball for filling With the grey sow-thistle down, And a gossamer gramarye shilling Stamped with Titania's crown ; And we give you the wing of a cricket To winnow your store of grain." —Then they hastened away to their thicket And he never could find them again. But always the wing would sever The dross

IN THAT DIM PAGODA HIGH SlLVER bee on brooch of jade In this ebon casket laid, What taper fingers thrust you there, Put on the lid and turned with care The bronzen key as if afraid ? Though dream-poised by neck as bright As a lily built of light, Where his proud lips flashing red Kissed so very Time was bled Of scathful ichor, tarry flight ; Live those moments through again— Nimble joy with unthrift pain—, Let the lingering shadows lie In that dim pagoda high, Where caged cicadas chaunt their strain. June 5, 1935. Page-128

FROM GOLD AND RED AND BLUE CALM sky of liquid gold ; Indigo sea at eventide ; Tawny red on the desert side Of the red cliff aeons old. No- breathing thing on the land ; No fleck of foam on ocean's breast; An aureate sky that had gained its quest One vast silence spanned. Before the cradle Time Was framed or Space was fraught With uttering sublime From God's creative Thought, The mantra of this colour chime Was unreckonably wrought In all its sorcery of hue From gold and red and blue. September 20, 1934. Page-84

WHAT BURNING FRUIT IS BENDING THAT FAR BOUGH WHAT burning fruit is bending that far bough Vista'd athwart the littleness of earth ? There is no place for ease and joyance now ; Our reaping-hook is mocked by sheaves of dearth. Rinded with flame and aureoled with fear, The fruit of deity is ripening fast. Whose hands are pure to touch and find no sear ? Shall deathless fruit through mortal lips be passed ? January 6, 1937. Page-254

TOTALITARIAN NIGHT was closing on the traveller When he came To the empty eerie courtyard With no name. Loud he called ; no echo answered ; Nothing stirred : But a crescent moon swung wanly, White as curd. When he flashed his single sword-blade Through the gloom, None resisted—till he frantic, Filled with doom, Hurled his weapon through the gloaming, Took no aim ; Saw his likenesses around him Do the same : Viewed a thousand sword less figures Like his own— Then first knew in that cold starlight Hell, alone. October 11, 1936. Page-215 WHITE SIGNI

RESTORATION ALL space is cribbed, confined, Alf time abeggar's mite : There is a bitter rind No after-depths requite. Dustwhirl of galaxies. As a top, gathers and sleeps In swift tranquillities Of time-unwearied deeps. Error to Eden came, Drew from Eve's mouth Sweetness that changed to grame And lonely drouth And with rinded hardness First joined to the tree,— A symbol of this marred-ness, Strange hope of things to be. February 11, 1933. Page-30