English Poems, Volume 01 (of 2)

An early and very imperfect draft of Antinous was published in 1918. The present one is meant to annul and supersede that, from which it is essentially different. —Inscriptions is now first published.
The rain outside was cold in Hadrian's soul.
The boy lay dead On the low couch, on whose denuded whole, To Hadrian's eyes, whose sorrow was a dread, The shadowy light of Death's eclipse was shed.
The boy lay dead, and the day seemed a night Outside. The rain fell like a sick affright Of Nature at her work in killing him. Memory of what he was gave no delight, Delight at what he was dead and dim.
O hands that once had clasped Hadrian's warm hands, Whose cold now found them cold! O hair bound erstwhile with the pressing bands! O eyes half-diffidently bold! O bare female male-body such As a god's likeness to humanity! O lips whose opening redness erst could touch Lust's seats with a live art's variety!
O fingers skilled in things not to be told! O tongue which, counter-tongued, made the blood bold! O complete regency of lust throned on Raged consciousness's spilled suspension! These things are things that now must be no more. The rain is silent, and the Emperor Sinks by the couch. His grief is like a rage, For the gods take away the life they give And spoil the beauty they made live. He weeps and knows that every future age Is looking on him out of the to-be; His love is on a universal stage; A thousand unborn eyes weep with his misery.
Antinous is dead, is dead for ever, Is dead for ever and all loves lament. Venus herself, that was Adonis' lover, Seeing him, that newly lived, now dead again, Lends her old griefs renewal to be blent With Hadrian's pain.
Now is Apollo sad because the stealer Of his white body is for ever cold. No careful kisses on that nippled point Covering his heart-beats' silent place restore His life again to ope his eyes and feel her Presence along his veins Love's fortress hold. No warmth of his another's warmth demands. Now will his hands behind his head no more Linked, in that posture giving all but hands, On the projected body hands implore.