Villonaud for This Yule poem – Ezra Pound poems
Towards the Noel that morte saison (Christ make the shepherds’ homage dear!) Then when the grey wolves everychone Drink of the winds their chill small-beer And lap o’ the snows food’s gueredon Then makyth my heart his yule-tide cheer (Skoal! with the dregs if the clear be gone!) Wineing the ghosts of yester-year. Ask […]
Villanelle: The Psychological Hour poem – Ezra Pound poems
I had over prepared the event, that much was ominous. With middle-ageing care I had laid out just the right books. I had almost turned down the pages. Beauty is so rare a thing. So few drink of my fountain. So much barren regret, So many hours wasted! And now I watch, from the […]
Ts’ai Chi’h poem – Ezra Pound poems
The petals fall in the fountain, the orange-coloured rose-leaves, Their ochre clings to the stone. *** Ezra Pound Poems by Ezra Pound
These Fought in Any Case poem – Ezra Pound poems
These fought in any case, and some believing pro domo, in any case ….. Died some, pro patria, walked eye-deep in hell believing in old men’s lies, then unbelieving came home, home to a lie, home to many deceits, home to old lies and new infamy; usury age-old and age-thick and liars in public […]
The Tree poem – Ezra Pound poems
I stood still and was a tree amid the wood, Knowing the truth of things unseen before; Of Daphne and the laurel bow And that god-feasting couple old that grew elm-oak amid the wold. ‘Twas not until the gods had been Kindly entreated, and been brought within Unto the hearth of their heart’s home […]
The Summons poem – Ezra Pound poems
I can not bow to woo thee With honey words and flower kisses And the dew of sweet half-truths Fallen on the grass of old quaint love-tales Of broidered days foredone. Nor in the murmurous twilight May I sit below thee, Worshiping in whispers Tremulous as far-heard bells. All these things have I known […]
The Seeing Eye poem – Ezra Pound poems
The small dogs look at the big dogs; They observe unwieldy dimensions And curious imperfections of odor. Here is the formal male group: The young men look upon their seniors, They consider the elderly mind And observe its inexplicable correlations. Said Tsin-Tsu: It is only in small dogs and the young That we find […]
The Seafarer poem – Ezra Pound poems
(From the early Anglo-Saxon text) May I for my own self song’s truth reckon, Journey’s jargon, how I in harsh days Hardship endured oft. Bitter breast-cares have I abided, Known on my keel many a care’s hold, And dire sea-surge, and there I oft spent Narrow nightwatch nigh the ship’s head While she tossed […]
The River-Merchant’s Wife: A Letter poem – Ezra Pound poems
After Li Po While my hair was still cut straight across my forehead I played at the front gate, pulling flowers. You came by on bamboo stilts, playing horse, You walked about my seat, playing with blue plums. And we went on living in the village of Chokan: Two small people, without dislike or […]
The Return poem – Ezra Pound poems
See, they return; ah, see the tentative Movements, and the slow feet, The trouble in the pace and the uncertain Wavering! See, they return, one, and by one, With fear, as half-awakened; As if the snow should hesitate And murmur in the wind, and half turn back; These were the “Wing’d-with-Awe,” Inviolable. Gods of […]