Saint
(After Mallarmé)
HIGH at a window
Of old gilded sandalwood
Where once the viol
Mingled with dulcimer,
Sits the Saint pallid,
The missal of parchment
Lies open where vespers
And complines were chaunted:
At monstrance-glazing
Grazed by the Angel’s
Harp curved by winging
Aloft on the twilight
For her delicate fingers,
On instrument’s plumage
She balances soft,
A musician of silence.
III
Hérodiade
Translated from Mallarmé
Scene