REGRET FOR THE DEPOPULATION OF RURAL DISTRICTS
I have seen villages grow suddenly
From dust and stand upright in the air
With comfortable homes grouped round a spire;
And in the fields strong women bending
Down to coarse toil to nourish unborn women.
But in the gardens, languid with flowers’ fragrance
Girls linger on close lawns for unknown happenings,
Tearing a petal in long shining fingers.
So waiting whilst pear blossom apple blossom
And white plum blossom are fallen down to earth,
And the white moon fallen. Then a heap of dust
That once was named, loved and familiar
Lies unsubstantial in the eternal sunlight.
Whence faint thoughts
Stirring far down in twilight consciousness
Move dark-boughed yew-trees over graves and stars.
COMPLAINT AFTER PSYCHO-ANALYSIS
Now my days are all undone,
Spirit sunken, girls forgone,
I will weave in other mesh
Than fading bone and flesh.
Into cold deserted mind
Drag the relics of the blind;
And raise from wives none other sees
Substantial families.
Hunt through woods of maidenhair
Tangled in the shining air
The forms of ecstasies achieved,
Not then believed.
O Unicorns and jewelled Birds
And trampling dappled moonlight herds,
In icy glades now slain
With arrows bright as pain.
Leap, Moon, from the berg’s pale womb!
Frail Bride, out of Earth’s tomb!
The stars are ashen cold
Beneath their gold.