Why should I care for the Ages
Because they are old and grey?
To me like sudden laughter
The stars are fresh and gay;
The world is a daring fancy
And finished yesterday.
Why should I bow to the Ages
Because they are drear and dry?
Slow trees and ripening meadows
For me go roaring by,
A living charge, a struggle
To escalade the sky.
The eternal suns and systems,
Solid and silent all,
To me are stars of an instant,
Only the fires that fall
From God's good rocket rising
On this night of carnival.
'A Novelty' ('The Wild Knight').
ASH WEDNESDAY
Nor shall all iron doors make dumb
Men wondering ceaselessly,
If it be not better to fast for joy
Than feast for misery?
'Ballad of Alfred.'
PALM SUNDAY
When fishes flew and forests walked
And figs grew upon thorn,
Some moment when the moon was blood
Then surely I was born.
With monstrous head and sickening cry
And ears like errant wings,
The devil's walking parody
On all four-footed things.