17137610 Pound Ezra the Cantos

8/15/2019 17137610 Pound Ezra the Cantos

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THE CANTOS

Pound, Ezra, 1885-1972

A DRAFT OF XXX CANTOS

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I

1 And then went down to the ship,2 Set keel to breakers, forth on the godly sea, and3 We set up mast and sail on that swart ship,

4 Bore sheep aboard her, and our bodies also5 Heavy with weeping, and winds from sternward6 Bore us out onward with bellying canvas,7 Circe's this craft, the trim-coifed goddess.8 Then sat we amidships, wind jamming the tiller,9 Thus with stretched sail, we went over sea till day's end.10 Sun to his slumber, shadows o'er all the ocean,11 Came we then to the bounds of deepest water,12 To the Kimmerian lands, and peopled cities13 Covered with close-webbed mist, unpierced ever14 With glitter of sun-rays

15 Nor with stars stretched, nor looking back from heaven16 Swartest night stretched over wretched men there.17 The ocean flowing backward, came we then to the place18 Aforesaid by Circe.19 Here did they rites, Perimedes and Eurylochus,20 And drawing sword from my hip21 I dug the ell-square pitkin;22 Poured we libations unto each the dead,


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95 and the voice of Schoeney's daughters,96 And doom goes with her in walking,97 Let her go back to the ships,98 back among Grecian voices."99 And by the beach-run, Tyro,

100 Twisted arms of the sea-god,101 Lithe sinews of water, gripping her, cross-hold,102 And the blue-gray glass of the wave tents them,103 Glare azure of water, cold-welter, close cover.104 Quiet sun-tawny sand-stretch,105 The gulls broad out their wings,106 nipping between the splay feathers;

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107 Snipe come for their bath,

108 bend out their wing-joints,109 Spread wet wings to the sun-film,110 And by Scios,111 to left of the Naxos passage,112 Naviform rock overgrown,113 algę cling to its edge,114 There is a wine-red glow in the shallows,115 a tin flash in the sun-dazzle.

116 The ship landed in Scios,

117 men wanting spring-water,118 And by the rock-pool a young boy loggy with vine-must,119 "To Naxos? Yes, we'll take you to Naxos,120 Cum' along lad." "Not that way!"121 "Aye, that way is Naxos."122 And I said: "It's a straight ship."123 And an ex-convict out of Italy124 knocked me into the fore-stays,125 (He was wanted for manslaughter in Tuscany)126 And the whole twenty against me,127 Mad for a little slave money.

128 And they took her out of Scios129 And off her course ...130 And the boy came to, again, with the racket,131 And looked out over the bows,132 and to eastward, and to the Naxos passage.133 God-sleight then, god-sleight:134 Ship stock fast in sea-swirl,135 Ivy upon the oars, King Pentheus,


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136 grapes with no seed but sea-foam,137 Ivy in scupper-hole.138 Aye, I, Acoetes, stood there,139 and the god stood by me,140 Water cutting under the keel,

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141 Sea-break from stern forrards,142 wake running off from the bow,143 And where was gunwale, there now was vine-trunk,144 And tenthril where cordage had been,145 grape-leaves on the rowlocks,146 Heavy vine on the oarshafts,147 And, out of nothing, a breathing,148 hot breath on my ankles,

149 Beasts like shadows in glass,150 a furred tail upon nothingness.151 Lynx-purr, and heathery smell of beasts,152 where tar smell had been,153 Sniff and pad-foot of beasts,154 eye-glitter out of black air.155 The sky overshot, dry, with no tempest,156 Sniff and pad-foot of beasts,157 fur brushing my knee-skin,158 Rustle of airy sheaths,159 dry forms in the ęther.

160 And the ship like a keel in ship-yard,161 slung like an ox in smith's sling,162 Ribs stuck fast in the ways,163 grape-cluster over pin-rack,164 void air taking pelt.165 Lifeless air become sinewed,166 feline leisure of panthers,167 Leopards sniffing the grape shoots by scupper-hole,168 Crouched panthers by fore-hatch,169 And the sea blue-deep about us,170 green-ruddy in shadows,

171 And Lyęus: "From now, Acoetes, my altars,172 Fearing no bondage,173 fearing no cat of the wood,174 Safe with my lynxes,175 feeding grapes to my leopards,

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176 Olibanum is my incense,177 the vines grow in my homage."

178 The back-swell now smooth in the rudder-chains,

179 Black snout of a porpoise180 where Lycabs had been,181 Fish-scales on the oarsmen.182 And I worship.183 I have seen what I have seen.184 When they brought the boy I said:185 "He has a god in him,186 though I do not know which god."187 And they kicked me into the fore-stays.188 I have seen what I have seen:189 Medon's face like the face of a dory,

190 Arms shrunk into fins. And you, Pentheus,191 Had as well listen to Tiresias, and to Cadmus,192 or your luck will go out of you.193 Fish-scales over groin muscles,194 lynx-purr amid sea ...195 And of a later year,196 pale in the wine-red algę,197 If you will lean over the rock,198 the coral face under wave-tinge,199 Rose-paleness under water-shift,200 Ileuthyeria, fair Dafne of sea-bords,

201 The swimmer's arms turned to branches,202 Who will say in what year,203 fleeing what band of tritons,204 The smooth brows, seen, and half seen,205 now ivory stillness.

206 And So-shu churned in the sea, So-shu also,207 using the long moon for a churn-stick ...208 Lithe turning of water,209 sinews of Poseidon,

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210 Black azure and hyaline,211 glass wave over Tyro,212 Close cover, unstillness,213 bright welter of wave-cords,214 Then quiet water,


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215 quiet in the buff sands,216 Sea-fowl stretching wing-joints,217 splashing in rock-hollows and sand-hollows218 In the wave-runs by the half-dune;219 Glass-glint of wave in the tide-rips against sunlight,

220 pallor of Hesperus,221 Grey peak of the wave,222 wave, colour of grape's pulp,

223 Olive grey in the near,224 far, smoke grey of the rock-slide,225 Salmon-pink wings of the fish-hawk226 cast grey shadows in water,227 The tower like a one-eyed great goose228 cranes up out of the olive-grove,

229 And we have heard the fauns chiding Proteus230 in the smell of hay under the olive-trees,231 And the frogs singing against the fauns232 in the half-light.233 And ...

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III

234 I sat on the Dogana's steps235 For the gondolas cost too much, that year,236 And there were not "those girls", there was one face,

237 And the Buccentoro twenty yards off, howling "Stretti",238 And the lit cross-beams, that year, in the Morosini,239 And peacocks in Koré's house, or there may have been.240 Gods float in the azure air,241 Bright gods and Tuscan, back before dew was shed.242 Light: and the first light, before ever dew was fallen.243 Panisks, and from the oak, dryas,244 And from the apple, męlid,


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245 Through all the wood, and the leaves are full of voices,246 A-whisper, and the clouds bowe over the lake,247 And there are gods upon them,248 And in the water, the almond-white swimmers,249 The silvery water glazes the upturned nipple,

250 As Poggio has remarked.251 Green veins in the turquoise,252 Or, the gray steps lead up under the cedars.

253 My Cid rode up to Burgos,254 Up to the studded gate between two towers,255 Beat with his lance butt, and the child came out,256 Una nińa de nueve ańos,257 To the little gallery over the gate, between the towers,258 Reading the writ, voce tinnula:

259 That no man speak to, feed, help Ruy Diaz,260 On pain to have his heart out, set on a pike spike261 And both his eyes torn out, and all his goods sequestered,262 "And here, Myo Cid, are the seals,263 The big seal and the writing."264 And he came down from Bivar, Myo Cid,

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265 With no hawks left there on their perches,266 And no clothes there in the presses,

267 And left his trunk with Raquel and Vidas,268 That big box of sand, with the pawn-brokers,269 To get pay for his menie;270 Breaking his way to Valencia.271 Ignez da Castro murdered, and a wall272 Here stripped, here made to stand.273 Drear waste, the pigment flakes from the stone,274 Or plaster flakes, Mantegna painted the wall.275 Silk tatters, "Nec Spe Nec Metu."

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IV


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315 Beneath it, beneath it316 Not a ray, not a slivver, not a spare disc of sunlight317 Flaking the black, soft water;318 Bathing the body of nymphs, of nymphs, and Diana,319 Nymphs, white-gathered about her, and the air, air,

320 Shaking, air alight with the goddess,321 fanning their hair in the dark,322 Lifting, lifting and waffing:323 Ivory dipping in silver,324 Shadow'd, o'ershadow'd325 Ivory dipping in silver,326 Not a splotch, not a lost shatter of sunlight.327 Then Actęon: Vidal,328 Vidal. It is old Vidal speaking,329 stumbling along in the wood,330 Not a patch, not a lost shimmer of sunlight,

331 the pale hair of the goddess.

332 The dogs leap on Actęon,333 "Hither, hither, Actęon,"334 Spotted stag of the wood;335 Gold, gold, a sheaf of hair,336 Thick like a wheat swath,337 Blaze, blaze in the sun,338 The dogs leap on Actęon.

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339 Stumbling, stumbling along in the wood,340 Muttering, muttering Ovid:341 "Pergusa ... pool ... pool ... Gargaphia,342 "Pool ... pool of Salmacis."343 The empty armour shakes as the cygnet moves.

344 Thus the light rains, thus pours, e lo soleills plovil345 The liquid and rushing crystal

346 beneath the knees of the gods.347 Ply over ply, thin glitter of water;348 Brook film bearing white petals.349 The pine at Takasago350 grows with the pine of Isé!351 The water whirls up the bright pale sand in the spring's mouth352 "Behold the Tree of the Visages!"353 Forked branch-tips, flaming as if with lotus.


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354 Ply over ply355 The shallow eddying fluid,356 beneath the knees of the gods.

357 Torches melt in the glare358 set flame of the corner cook-stall,359 Blue agate casing the sky (as at Gourdon that time)360 the sputter of resin,361 Saffron sandal so petals the narrow foot: Hymenęus Io!362 Hymen, Io Hymenęe! Aurunculeia!363 One scarlet flower is cast on the blanch-white stone.

364 And So-Gyoku, saying:365 "This wind, sire, is the king's wind,

366 This wind is wind of the palace,367 Shaking imperial water-jets."368 And Hsiang, opening his collar:369 "This wind roars in the earth's bag,370 it lays the water with rushes."

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371 No wind is the king's wind.372 Let every cow keep her calf.373 "This wind is held in gauze curtains ..."

374 No wind is the king's ...

375 The camel drivers sit in the turn of the stairs,376 Look down on Ecbatan of plotted streets,377 "Danaė! Danaė!378 What wind is the king's?"379 Smoke hangs on the stream,380 The peach-trees shed bright leaves in the water,381 Sound drifts in the evening haze,382 The bark scrapes at the ford,

383 Gilt rafters above black water,384 Three steps in an open field,385 Gray stone-posts leading ...

386 Pčre Henri Jacques would speak with the Sennin, on Rokku,387 Mount Rokku between the rock and the cedars,388 Polhonac,


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389 As Gyges on Thracian platter set the feast,390 Cabestan, Tereus,391 It is Cabestan's heart in the dish,392 Vidal, or Ecbatan, upon the gilded tower in Ecbatan393 Lay the god's bride, lay ever, waiting the golden rain.

394 By Garonne. "Saave!"395 The Garonne is thick like paint,396 Procession,---"Et sa'ave, sa'ave, sa'ave Regina!"---397 Moves like a worm, in the crowd.398 Adige, thin film of images,399 Across the Adige, by Stefano, Madonna in hortulo,400 As Cavalcanti had seen her.401 The Centaur's heel plants in the earth loam.402 And we sit here ...403 there in the arena ...

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V

404 Great bulk, huge mass, thesaurus;405 Ecbatan, the clock ticks and fades out406 The bride awaiting the god's touch; Ecbatan,407 City of patterned streets; again the vision:408 Down in the vię stradę, toga'd the crowd, and arm'd,409 Rushing on populous business,410 and from parapet looked down411 and North was Egypt,412 the celestial Nile, blue deep,413 cutting low barren land,414 Old men and camels

415 working the water-wheels;416 Measureless seas and stars,417 Iamblichus' light,418 the souls ascending,419 Sparks like a partridge covey,420 Like the "ciocco", brand struck in the game.421 "Et omniformis": Air, fire, the pale soft light.422 Topaz I manage, and three sorts of blue;


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463 And had De Tierci's wife and with the war they made:464 Troy in Auvergnat465 While Menelaus piled up the church at port466 He kept Tyndarida. Dauphin stood with de Maensac.

467 John Borgia is bathed at last. (Clock-tick pierces the vision)468 Tiber, dark with the cloak, wet cat gleaming in patches.

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469 Click of the hooves, through garbage,470 Clutching the greasy stone. "And the cloak floated."471 Slander is up betimes.472 But Varchi of Florence,473 Steeped in a different year, and pondering Brutus,

474 Then " !475 "Dog-eye!!" (to Alessandro)476 "Whether for love of Florence," Varchi leaves it,477 Saying "I saw the man, came up with him at Venice,478 "I, one wanting the facts,479 "And no mean labour ... Or for a privy spite?"480 Our Benedetto leaves it,481 But: "I saw the man. Se pia?482 "O empia? For Lorenzaccio had thought of stroke in the open483 But uncertain (for the Duke went never unguarded)484 "And would have thrown him from wall

485 "Yet feared this might not end him," or lest Alessandro486 Know not by whom death came, O se credesse487 "If when the foot slipped, when death came upon him,488 "Lest cousin Duke Alessandro think he had fallen alone,489 "No friend to aid him in falling."490 Caina attende.491 The lake of ice there below me.492 And all of this, runs Varchi, dreamed out beforehand493 In Perugia, caught in the star-maze by Del Carmine,494 Cast on a natal paper, set with an exegesis, told,495 All told to Alessandro, told thrice over,

496 Who held his death for a doom.497 In abuleia. But Don Lorenzino498 Whether for love of Florence ... but499 "O se morisse, credesse caduto da sč"500 ,501 Schiavoni, caught on the wood-barge,502 Gives out the afterbirth, Giovanni Borgia,503 Trails out no more at nights, where Barabello


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504 Prods the Pope's elephant, and gets no crown, where Mozarello505 Takes the Calabrian roadway, and for ending

506 Is smothered beneath a mule,507 a poet's ending,508 Down a stale well-hole, oh a poet's ending. "Sanazarro509 "Alone out of all the court was faithful to him"510 For the gossip of Naples' trouble drifts to North,511 Fracastor (lightning was midwife) Cotta, and Ser D'Alviano,512 Al poco giorno ed al gran cerchio d'ombra,513 Talk the talks out with Navighero,514 Burner of yearly Martials,515 (The slavelet is mourned in vain)516 And the next comer says "Were nine wounds,

517 "Four men, white horse. Held on the saddle before him ..."518 Hooves clink and slick on the cobbles.519 Schiavoni ... cloak ... "Sink the damn thing!"520 Splash wakes that chap on the wood-barge.521 Tiber catching the nap, the moonlit velvet,522 A wet cat gleaming in patches.523 "Se pia," Varchi,524 "O empia, ma risoluto525 "E terribile deliberazione."526 Both sayings run in the wind,527 Ma se morisse!

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VI

528 What you have done, Odysseus,529 We know what you have done ...530 And that Guillaume sold out his ground rents531 (Seventh of Poitiers, Ninth of Aquitain).532 "Tant las fotei com auzirets533 "Cen e quatre vingt et veit vetz ..."534 The stone is alive in my hand, the crops


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535 will be thick in my death-year ...536 Till Louis is wed with Eleanor537 And had (He, Guillaume) a son that had to wife538 The Duchess of Normandia whose daughter539 Was wife to King Henry e maire del rei jove ...

540 Went over sea till day's end (he, Louis, with Eleanor)541 Coming at last to Acre.542 "Ongla, oncle" saith Arnaut543 Her uncle commanded in Acre,544 That had known her in girlhood545 (Theseus, son of Aegeus)546 And he, Louis, was not at ease in that town,547 And was not at ease by Jordan548 As she rode out to the palm-grove549 Her scarf in Saladin's cimier.550 Divorced her in that year, he Louis,

551 divorcing thus Aquitaine.552 And that year Plantagenet married her553 (that had dodged past 17 suitors)554 Et quand lo reis Lois lo entendit555 mout er fasché.556 Nauphal, Vexis, Harry joven557 In pledge for all his life and life of all his heirs558 Shall have Gisors, and Vexis, Neufchastel559 But if no issue Gisors shall revert ...

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560 "Need not wed Alix ... in the name561 Trinity holy indivisible ... Richard our brother562 Need not wed Alix once his father's ward and ...563 But whomso he choose ... for Alix, etc ...

564 Eleanor, domna jauzionda, mother of Richard,565 Turning on thirty years (wd. have been years before this)566 By river-marsh, by galleried church-porch,567 Malemorte, Correze, to whom:

568 "My Lady of Ventadour569 "Is shut by Eblis in570 "And will not hawk nor hunt571 nor get her free in the air572 "Nor watch fish rise to bait573 "Nor the glare-wing'd flies alight in the creek's edge574 "Save in my absence, Madame.575 'Que la lauzeta mover'


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576 "Send word I ask you to Eblis577 you have seen that maker578 "And finder of songs so far afield as this579 "That he may free her,580 who sheds such light in the air."

581 E lo Sordels si fo di Mantovana,582 Son of a poor knight, Sier Escort,583 And he delighted himself in chanēons584 And mixed with the men of the court585 And went to the court of Richard Saint Boniface586 And was there taken with love for his wife587 Cunizza, da Romano,588 That freed her slaves on a Wednesday589 Masnatas et servos, witness

590 Picus de Farinatis591 and Don Elinus and Don Lipus592 sons of Farinato de' Farinati

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593 "free of person, free of will594 "free to buy, witness, sell, testate."595 A marito subtraxit ipsam ...596 dictum Sordellum concubuisse:597 "Winter and Summer I sing of her grace,

598 As the rose is fair, so fair is her face,599 Both Summer and Winter I sing of her,600 The snow makyth me to remember her."

601 And Cairels was of Sarlat ...602 Theseus from Troezene603 And they wd. have given him poison604 But for the shape of his sword-hilt.

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VII


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605 Eleanor (she spoiled in a British climate)606 and , and607 poor old Homer blind,

608 blind as a bat,609 Ear, ear for the sea-surge;610 rattle of old men's voices.611 And then the phantom Rome,612 marble narrow for seats613 "Si pulvis nullus" said Ovid,614 "Erit, nullum tamen excute."615 Then file and candles, e li mestiers ecoutes;616 Scene for the battle only, but still scene,617 Pennons and standards y cavals armatz618 Not mere succession of strokes, sightless narration,

619 And Dante's "ciocco," brand struck in the game.

620 Un peu moisi, plancher plus bas que le jardin.

621 "Contre le lambris, fauteuil de paille,622 "Un vieux piano, et sous le baromčtre ..."

623 The old men's voices, beneath the columns of false marble,

624 The modish and darkish walls,625 Discreeter gilding, and the panelled wood626 Suggested, for the leasehold is627 Touched with an imprecision ... about three squares;628 The house too thick, the paintings629 a shade too oiled.630 And the great domed head, con gli occhi onesti e tardi631 Moves before me, phantom with weighted motion,632 Grave incessu, drinking the tone of things,633 And the old voice lifts itself 634 weaving an endless sentence.

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635 We also made ghostly visits, and the stair636 That knew us, found us again on the turn of it,637 Knocking at empty rooms, seeking for buried beauty;638 And the sun-tanned, gracious and well-formed fingers639 Lift no latch of bent bronze, no Empire handle


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681 Words like the locust-shells, moved by no inner being;682 A dryness calling for death;

683 Another day, between walls of a sham Mycenian,

684 "Toc" sphinxes, sham-Memphis columns,685 And beneath the jazz a cortex, a stiffness or stillness,686 Shell of the older house.687 Brown-yellow wood, and the no colour plaster,688 Dry professorial talk ...689 now stilling the ill beat music,690 House expulsed by this house.

691 Square even shoulders and the satin skin,692 Gone cheeks of the dancing woman,

693 Still the old dead dry talk, gassed out---694 It is ten years gone, makes stiff about her a glass,695 A petrefaction of air.696 The old room of the tawdry class asserts itself;697 The young men, never!698 Only the husk of talk.699 O voi che siete in piccioletta barca,700 Dido choked up with sobs, for her Sicheus

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701 Lies heavy in my arms, dead weight702 Drowning, with tears, new Eros,

703 And the life goes on, mooning upon bare hills;704 Flame leaps from the hand, the rain is listless,705 Yet drinks the thirst from our lips,706 solid as echo,707 Passion to breed a form in shimmer of rain-blur;708 But Eros drowned, drowned, heavy-half dead with tears709 For dead Sicheus.

710 Life to make mock of motion:711 For the husks, before me, move,712 The words rattle: shells given out by shells.713 The live man, out of lands and prisons,714 shakes the dry pods,715 Probes for old wills and friendships, and the big locust-casques


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716 Bend to the tawdry table,717 Lift up their spoons to mouths, put forks in cutlets,718 And make sound like the sound of voices.719 Lorenzaccio720 Being more live than they, more full of flames and voices.

721 Ma se morisse!722 Credesse caduto da sč, ma se morisse.723 And the tall indifference moves,724 a more living shell,725 Drift in the air of fate, dry phantom, but intact.726 O Alessandro, chief and thrice warned, watcher,727 Eternal watcher of things,728 Of things, of men, of passions.729 Eyes floating in dry, dark air,730 E biondo, with glass-grey iris, with an even side-fall of hair731 The stiff, still features.

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VIII

732 These fragments you have shelved (shored).733 "Slut!" "Bitch!" Truth and Calliope734 Slanging each other sous les lauriers:735 That Alessandro was negroid. And Malatesta736 Sigismund:737 Frater tamquam738 Et compater carissime: tergo739 ... hanni de740 ..dicis741 ... entia

742 Equivalent to:743 Giohanni of the Medici,744 Florence.745 Letter received, and in the matter of our Messire Gianozio,746 One from him also, sent on in form and with all due dispatch,747 Having added your wishes and memoranda.748 As to arranging peace between you and the King of Ragona,749 So far as I am concerned, it wd.


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750 Give me the greatest possible pleasure,751 At any rate nothing wd. give me more pleasure752 or be more acceptable to me,753 And I shd. like to be party to it, as was promised me,754 either as participant or adherent.

755 As for my service money,756 Perhaps you and your father wd. draw it757 And send it on to me as quickly as possible.758 And tell the Maestro di pentore759 That there can be no question of 760 His painting the walls for the moment,761 As the mortar is not yet dry762 And it wd. be merely work chucked away763 (buttato via)

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764 But I want it to be quite clear, that until the chapels are ready765 I will arrange for him to paint something else766 So that both he and I shall767 Get as much enjoyment as possible from it,768 And in order that he may enter my service769 And also because you write me that he needs cash,770 I want to arrange with him to give him so much per year771 And to assure him that he will get the sum agreed on.772 You may say that I will deposit security773 For him wherever he likes.

774 And let me have a clear answer,775 For I mean to give him good treatment776 So that he may come to live the rest777 Of his life in my lands---778 Unless you put him off it---779 And for this I mean to make due provision,780 So that he can work as he likes,781 Or waste his time as he likes782 (affatigandose per suo piacere o no783 non gli manchera la provixione mai)784 never lacking provision.

785 SIGISMUNDUS PANDOLPHUS DE MALATESTIS786 In campo Illus. Domini Venetorum die 7787 aprilis 1449 contra Cremonam

788 .....and because the aforesaid most illustrious789 Duke of Milan790 Is content and wills that the aforesaid Lord Sigismundo


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791 Go into the service of the most magnificent commune792 of the Florentines793 For alliance defensive of the two states,794 Therefore between the aforesaid Illustrious Sigismund795 And the respectable man Agnolo della Stufa,

796 ambassador, sindic and procurator797 Appointed by the ten of the baily, etc., the half

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798 Of these 50,000 florins, free of attainder,799 For 1400 cavalry and four hundred foot800 To come into the terrene of the commune801 or elsewhere in Tuscany802 As please the ten of the Baily,803 And to be himself there with them in the service

804 of the commune805 With his horsemen and his footmen806 (gente di cavallo e da pie) etc.807 Aug. 5 1452, register of the Ten of the Baily.

808 From the forked rocks of Penna and Billi, on Carpegna809 with the road leading under the cliff,810 in the wind-shelter into Tuscany,811 And the north road, toward the Marecchia812 the mud-stretch full of cobbles.

813 Lyra:814 "Ye spirits who of olde were in this land815 Each under Love, and shaken,816 Go with your lutes, awaken817 The summer within her mind,818 Who hath not Helen for peer819 Yseut nor Batsabe."820 With the interruption:821 Magnifico, compater et carissime822 (Johanni di Cosimo)823 Venice has taken me on again

824 At 7,000 a month, fiorini di Camera.825 For 2,000 horse and four hundred footmen,826 And it rains here by the gallon,827 We have had to dig a new ditch.828 In three or four days829 I shall try to set up the bombards.


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830 Under the plumes, with the flakes and small wads of colour831 Showering from the balconies

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832 With the sheets spread from windows,833 with leaves and small branches pinned on them,834 Arras hung from the railings; out of the dust,835 With pheasant tails upright on their forelocks,836 The small white horses, the837 Twelve girls riding in order, green satin in pannier'd habits;838 Under the baldachino, silver'd with heavy stitches,839 Bianca Visconti, with Sforza,840 The peasant's son and the duchess,841 To Rimini, and to the wars southward,842 Boats drawn on the sand, red-orange sails in the creek's

mouth,843 For two days' pleasure, mostly "la pesca," fishing,844 Di cui in the which he, Francesco, godeva molto.845 To the war southward846 In which he, at that time, received an excellent hiding.847 And the Greek emperor was in Florence848 (Ferrara having the pest)849 And with him Gemisthus Plethon850 Talking of the war about the temple at Delphos,851 And of Poseidon, concret Allgemeine,852 And telling of how Plato went to Dionysius of Syracuse

853 Because he had observed that tyrants854 Were most efficient in all that they set their hands to,855 But he was unable to persuade Dionysius856 To any amelioration.857 And in the gate at Ancona, between the foregate858 And the main-gates859 Sigismundo, ally, come through an enemy force,860 To patch up some sort of treaty, passes one gate861 And they shut it before they open the next gate, and he says:862 "Now you have me,863 Caught like a hen in a coop."

864 And the captain of the watch says: "Yes Messire Sigismundo,865 But we want this town for ourselves."

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866 With the church against him,867 With the Medici bank for itself,868 With wattle Sforza against him


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IX

908 One year floods rose,909 One year they fought in the snows,910 One year hail fell, breaking the trees and walls.911 Down here in the marsh they trapped him912 in one year,913 And he stood in the water up to his neck

914 to keep the hounds off him,915 And he floundered about in the marsh916 and came in after three days,917 That was Astorre Manfredi of Faenza918 who worked the ambush919 and set the dogs off to find him,920 In the marsh, down here under Mantua,921 And he fought in Fano, in a street fight,922 and that was nearly the end of him;923 And the Emperor came down and knighted us,924 And they had a wooden castle set up for fiesta,

925 And one year Basinio went out into the courtyard926 Where the lists were, and the palisades927 had been set for the tourneys,928 And he talked down the anti-Hellene,929 And there was an heir male to the seignor,930 And Madame Ginevra died.931 And he, Sigismundo, was Capitan for the Venetians.932 And he had sold off small castles933 and built the great Rocca to his plan,934 And he fought like ten devils at Monteluro935 and got nothing but the victory

936 And old Sforza bitched us at Pesaro;937 (sic) March the 16th:938 "that Messire Alessandro Sforza939 is become lord of Pesaro

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940 through the wangle of the Illus. Sgr. Mr. Fedricho d'Orbino


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941 Who worked the wangle with Galeaz942 through the wiggling of Messer Francesco,943 Who waggled it so that Galeaz should sell Pesaro944 to Alex and Fossembrone to Feddy;945 and he hadn't the right to sell.

946 And this he did bestialmente; that is Sforza did bestialmente947 as he had promised him, Sigismundo, per capitoli948 to see that he, Malatesta, should have Pesaro"949 And this cut us off from our south half 950 and finished our game, thus, in the beginning,951 And he, Sigismundo, spoke his mind to Francesco952 and we drove them out of the Marches.

953 And the King o' Ragona, Alphonse le roy d'Aragon,954 was the next nail in our coffin,

955 And all you can say is, anyway,956 that he Sigismundo called a town council957 And Valturio said "as well for a sheep as a lamb"958 and this change-over (hęc traditio)959 As old bladder said "rem eorum saluavit"960 Saved the Florentine state; and that, maybe, was something.961 And "Florence our natural ally" as they said in the meeting962 for whatever that was worth afterward.963 And he began building the Tempio,964 and Polixena, his second wife, died.965 And the Venetians sent down an ambassador

966 And said "speak humanely,967 But tell him it's no time for raising his pay."968 And the Venetians sent down an ambassador969 with three pages of secret instructions970 To the effect: Did he think the campaign was a joy-ride?971 And old Wattle-wattle slipped into Milan972 But he couldn't stand Sidg being so high with the Venetians973 And he talked it over with Feddy; and Feddy said "Pesaro"

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974 And old Foscari wrote "Caro mio975 "If we split with Francesco you can have it976 "And we'll help you in every way possible."977 But Feddy offered it sooner.978 And Sigismundo got up a few arches,979 And stole that marble in Classe, "stole" that is,980 Casus est talis:981 Foscari doge, to the prefect of Ravenna


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982 "Why, what, which, thunder, damnation????"

983 Casus est talis:984 Filippo, commendatary of the abbazia

985 Of Sant Apollinaire, Classe, Cardinal of Bologna986 That he did one night (quadam nocte) sell to the987 Illmo Do, Do Sigismund Malatesta988 Lord of Arimininum, marble, porphyry, serpentine,989 Whose men, Sigismundo's, came with more than an hundred990 two wheeled ox carts and deported, for the beautifying991 of the tempio where was Santa Maria in Trivio992 Where the same are now on the walls. Four hundred993 ducats to be paid back to the abbazia by the said swindling994 Cardinal or his heirs.995 grnnh! rrnnh, pthg.

996 wheels, plaustra, oxen under night-shield,997 And on the 13th of August: Aloysius Purtheo,998 The next abbot, to Sigismundo, receipt for 200 ducats999 Corn-salve for the damage done in that scurry.

1000 And there was the row about that German-Burgundian female1001 And it was his messianic year, Poliorcetes,1002 but he was being a bit too Polumetis1003 And the Venetians wouldn't give him six months vacation.

1004 And he went down to the old brick heap of Pesaro1005 and waited for Feddy

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1006 And Feddy finally said "I am coming!...1007 ... to help Alessandro."1008 And he said: "This time Mister Feddy has done it."1009 He said: "Broglio, I'm the goat. This time1010 Mr. Feddy has done it (m'l'ha calata)."

1011 And he'd lost his job with the Venetians,1012 And the stone didn't come in from Istria:1013 And we sent men to the silk war;1014 And Wattle never paid up on the nail1015 Though we signed on with Milan and Florence;1016 And he set up the bombards in muck down by Vada1017 where nobody else could have set 'em1018 and he took the wood out of the bombs


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1019 and made 'em of two scoops of metal1020 And the jobs getting smaller and smaller,1021 Until he signed on with Siena;1022 And that time they grabbed his post-bag.1023 And what was it, anyhow?

1024 Pitigliano, a man with a ten acre lot,1025 Two lumps of tufa,1026 and they'd taken his pasture land from him,1027 And Sidg had got back their horses,1028 and he had two big lumps of tufa1029 with six hundred pigs in the basements.1030 And the poor devils were dying of cold.1031 And this is what they found in the post-bag:1032 Ex Arimino die xxii Decembris1033 "Magnifice ac potens domine, mi singularissime1034 "I advise yr. Lordship how

1035 "I have been with master Alwidge who1036 "has shown me the design of the nave that goes in the middle,1037 "of the church and the design for the roof and ..."1038 "JHesus,1039 "Magnifico exso. Signor Mio1040 "Sence to-day I am recommanded that I have to tel you my

[Page 38]

1041 "father's opinium that he has shode to Mr. Genare about the1042 "valts of the cherch ... etc ...

1043 "Giovane of Master alwise P. S. I think it advisabl that1044 "I shud go to rome to talk to mister Albert so as I can no1045 "what he thinks about it rite.

1046 "Sagramoro ..."

1047 "Illustre signor mio, Messire Battista ..."

1048 "First: Ten slabs best red, seven by 15, by one third,1049 "Eight ditto, good red, 15 by three by one,1050 "Six of same, 15 by one by one.1051 "Eight columns 15 by three and one third1052 etc ... with carriage, danars 151


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[1053] "Monseigneur:

1054 "Madame Isotta has had me write today about Sr. Galeazzo's

1055 "daughter. The man who said young pullets make thin1056 "soup, knew what he was talking about. We went to see the1057 "girl the other day, for all the good that did, and she denied1058 "the whole matter and kept her end up without losing her1059 "temper. I think Madame Ixotta very nearly exhausted the1060 "matter. Mi pare che avea decto hogni chossia. All the1061 "children are well. Where you are everyone is pleased and1062 "happy because of your taking the chateau here we are the1063 "reverse as you might say drifting without a rudder. Madame1064 "Lucrezia has probably, or should have, written to you, I1065 "suppose you have the letter by now. Everyone wants to be

1066 "remembered to you. 21 Dec. D. de M."

1067 "... sagramoro to put up the derricks. There is a supply of 1068 "beams at ..."

1069 "Magnificent Lord with due reverence:1070 "Messire Malatesta is well and asks for you every day. He1071 "is so much pleased with his pony, It wd. take me a month1072 "to write you all the fun he gets out of that pony. I want to

1073 "again remind you to write to Georgio Rambottom or to his

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1074 "boss to fix up that wall to the little garden that madame Isotta1075 "uses, for it is all flat on the ground now as I have already told1076 "him a lot of times, for all the good that does, so I am writing1077 "to your lordship in the matter I have done all that I can, for1078 "all the good that does as noboddy hear can do anything1079 "without you.1080 "your faithful

1081 Lunarda da Palla.1082 20 Dec. 1454."

1083 "... gone over it with all the foremen and engineers. And1084 "about the silver for the small medal ..."


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1085 "Magnifice ac potens ...1086 "because the walls of ..."

1087 "Malatesta de Malatestis ad Magnificum Dominum Patremque

1088 "suum.

1089 "Exso Dno et Dno sin Dno Sigismundum Pandolfi Filium1090 "Malatestis Capitan General

1091 "Magnificent and Exalted Lord and Father in especial my1092 "lord with due recommendation: your letter has been pre-1093 "sented to me by Gentilino da Gradara and with it the bay1094 "pony (ronzino baiectino) the which you have sent me, and

1095 "which appears in my eyes a fine caparison'd charger, upon1096 "which I intend to learn all there is to know about riding, in1097 "consideration of yr. paternal affection for which I thank1098 "your excellency thus briefly and pray you continue to hold1099 "me in this esteem notifying you by the bearer of this that1100 "we are all in good health, as I hope and desire your Exct1101 "Lordship is also: with continued remembrance I remain1102 "Your son and servant1103 Malatesta de Malatestis.1104 Given in Rimini, this the 22nd day of December1105 anno domini 1454"

1106 (in the sixth year of his age)

[Page 40]

1107 "Illustrious Prince:1108 "Unfitting as it is that I should offer counsels to Hannibal ..."

1109 " Magnifice ac potens domine, domine mi singularissime,1110 "humili recomendatione premissa etc. This to advise your

1111 "Mgt Ldshp how the second load of Veronese marble has1112 "finally got here, after being held up at Ferrara with no end1113 "of fuss and botheration, the whole of it having been there1114 "unloaded.1115 "I learned how it happened, and it has cost a few florins to1116 "get back the said load which had been seized for the skipper's1117 "debt and defalcation; he having fled when the lighter was1118 "seized. But that Yr Mgt Ldshp may not lose the moneys


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1119 "paid out on his account I have had the lighter brought here1120 "and am holding it, against his arrival. If not we still have1121 "the lighter.1122 "As soon as the Xmas fźtes are over I will have the stone1123 "floor laid in the sacresty, for which the stone is already cut.

1124 "The wall of the building is finished and I shall now get the1125 "roof on.1126 "We have not begun putting new stone into the martyr1127 "chapel; first because the heavy frosts wd. certainly spoil1128 "the job; secondly because the aliofants aren't yet here and1129 "one can't get the measurements for the cornice to thecolumns1130 "that are to rest on the aliofants.1131 "They are doing the stairs to your room in the castle ... I1132 "have had Messire Antonio degli Atti's court paved and the1133 "stone benches put in it.

1134 "Ottavian is illuminating the bull. I mean the bull for1135 "the chapel. All the stone-cutters are waiting for spring1136 "weather to start work again.1137 "The tomb is all done except part of the lid, and as soon as1138 "Messire Agostino gets back from Cesena I will see that he1139 "finishes it, ever recommending me to yr Mgt Ldshp1140 "believe me yr faithful1141 Petrus Generaiis."

[Page 41]

1142 That's what they found in the post-bag1143 And some more of it to the effect that1144 he "lived and ruled"

1145 "et amava perdutamente Ixotta degli Atti"1146 e "ne fu degna"1147 "constans in proposito1148 "Placuit oculis principis1149 "pulchra aspectu"

1150 "populo grata (Italiaeque decus)1151 "and built a temple so full of pagan works"1152 i. e. Sigismund1153 and in the style "Past ruin'd Latium"1154 The filigree hiding the gothic,1155 with a touch of rhetoric in the whole1156 And the old sarcophagi,1157 such as lie, smothered in grass, by San Vitale.


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[Page 42]

X

1158 And the poor devils dying of cold, outside Sorano,1159 And from the other side, from inside the chāteau,1160 Orsini, Count Pitigliano, on the 17th of November:1161 "Siggy, darlint, wd. you not stop making war on

1162 "insensible objects, such as trees and domestic vines, thathave1163 "no means to hit back ... but if you will hire yourself out to a1164 "commune (Siena) which you ought rather to rule than1165 "serve ..."1166 which with Trachulo's damn'd epistle ...1167 And what of it anyhow? a man with a ten acre lot,1168 Pitigliano ... a lump of tufa,1169 And S. had got back their horses1170 And the poor devils dying of cold ...1171 (And there was another time, you know,

1172 He signed on with the Fanesi,1173 and just couldn't be bothered ...)1174 And there were three men on a one man job1175 And Careggi wanting the baton,1176 And not getting it just then in any case.

1177 And he, Sigismundo, refused an invitation to lunch1178 In commemoration of Carmagnola1179 (vide Venice, between the two columns1180 where Carmagnola was executed.)

1181 Et1182 "anno messo a saccho el signor Sigismundo"1183 As Filippo Strozzi wrote to Zan Lottieri, then in Naples,1184 "I think they'll let him through at Campiglia"

1185 Florence, Archivio Storico, 4th Series t. iii, e1186 "La Guerra dei Senesi col conte di Pitigliano."


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1187 And he found Carlo Gonzaga sitting like a mud-frog1188 in Orbetello

[Page 43]1189 And he said:1190 "Caro mio, I can not receive you1191 It really is not the moment."1192 And Broglio says he ought to have tipped Gorro Lolli.1193 But he got back home here somehow,1194 And Piccinino was out of a job,1195 And the old row with Naples continued.1196 And what he said was all right in Mantua;1197 And Borso had the pair of them up to Bel Fiore,

1198 The pair of them, Sigismundo and Federico Urbino,1199 Or perhaps in the palace, Ferrara, Sigismund upstairs1200 And Urbino's gang in the basement,1201 And a regiment of guards in, to keep order,1202 For all the good that did:1203 "Te cavero la budella del corpo!"1204 El conte levatosi:1205 "Io te cavero la corata a te!"1206 And that day Cosimo smiled,1207 That is, the day they said:1208 "Drusiana is to marry Count Giacomo ..."

1209 (Piccinino) un sorriso malizioso.1210 Drusiana, another of Franco Sforza's;1211 It would at least keep the row out of Tuscany.1212 And he fell out of a window, Count Giacomo,1213 Three days after his death, that was years later in Naples,1214 For trusting Ferdinando of Naples,1215 And old Wattle could do nothing about it.

1216 Et:

1217 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1218 Interea pro gradibus basilicae S. Pietri ex arida materia1219 ingens pyra extruitur in cujus summitate imago Sigismundi1220 collocatur hominis lineamenta, et vestimenti1221 modum adeo proprie reddens, ut vera magis persona,1222 quam imago videretur; ne quem tamen imago falleret,


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[Page 44]

1223 et scriptura ex ore prodiit, quae diceret:1224 Sigismundis hic ego sum1225 Malatesta, filius Pandulphi, rex proditorum,

1226 Deo atque hominibus infestus, sacri censura senatus1227 igni damnatus;1228 scripturam1229 multi legerunt. deinde astante populo, igne immisso,1230 et pyra simulacrum repente flagravit.1231 Com. Pio II, Liv. VII, p. 85.1232 Yriarte, p. 288.1233 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1234 So that in the end that pot-scraping little runt Andreas

1235 Benzi, da Siena1236 Got up to spout out the bunkum1237 That that monstrous swollen, swelling s. o. b.1238 Papa Pio Secundo1239 Ęneas Silvius Piccolomini1240 da Siena1241 Had told him to spout, in their best bear's-greased latinity;

1242 Stupro, cęde, adulter,1243 homocidia, parricidia ac periurus,

1244 presbitericidia, audax, libidinosus,1245 wives, jew-girls, nuns, necrophiliast, fornicarium ac sicarium,1246 proditor, raptor, incestuosus, incendiarius, ac1247 concubinarius,1248 and that he rejected the whole symbol of the apostles,1249 and that he said the monks ought not to own property1250 and that he disbelieved in the temporal power,1251 neither christian, jew, gentile,1252 nor any sect pagan, nisi forsitan epicureę.

1253 And that he did among other things1254 Empty the fonts of the chiexa of holy water1255 And fill up the same full with ink

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1256 That he might in God's dishonour1257 Stand before the doors of the said chiexa


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1258 Making mock of the inky faithful, they1259 Issuing thence by the doors in the pale light of the sunrise1260 Which might be considered youthful levity1261 but was really a profound indication;

1262 "Whence that his, Sigismundo's, foetor filled the earth1263 And stank up through the air and stars to heaven1264 Where---save they were immune from sufferings---1265 It had made the emparadisčd spirits pewk"1266 from their jeweled terrace.

1267 "Lussurioso incestuoso, perfide, sozzure ac crapulone,1268 assassino, ingordo, avaro, superbo, infidele1269 fattore di monete false, sodomitico, uxoricido"

1270 and the whole lump lot1271 given over to ...

1272 I mean after Pio had said, or at least Pio says that he1273 Said that this was elegant oratory "Orationem1274 Elegantissimam et ornatissimam1275 Audivimus venerabilis in Xti fratres ac dilectissimi1276 filii ..." (stone in his bladder

1277 testibus idoneis)1278 The lump lot given over1279 To that kid-slapping fanatic il cardinale di San Pietro in Vincoli1280 To find him guilty, of the lump lot1281 As he duly did, calling rumour, and Messire Federico d'Urbino1282 And other equally unimpeachable witnesses.

1283 So they burnt our brother in effigy1284 A rare magnificent effigy costing 8 florins 48 bol1285 (i.e. for the pair, as the first one wasn't a good enough

likeness)1286 And Borso said the time was ill-suited1287 to tanta novitą, such doings or innovations,

[Page 46]

1288 God's enemy and man's enemy, stuprum, raptum1289 I. N. R. I. Sigismund Imperator, Rex Proditorum.


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1290 And old Pills who tried to get him into a front rank action1291 In order to drive the rear guard at his buttocks,1292 Old Pills listed among the murdered, although he

1293 Came out of jail living later.

1294 Et les angloys ne povans desraciner ... venin de hayne1295 Had got back Gisors from the Angevins,

1296 And the Angevins were gunning after Naples1297 And we dragged in the Angevins,1298 And we dragged in Louis Eleventh,1299 And the tiers Calixte was dead, and Alfonso;

1300 And against us we had "this Ęneas" and young Ferdinando1301 That we had smashed at Piombino and driven out of the1302 Terrene of the Florentines;1303 And Piccinino, out of a job;1304 And he, Sidg, had had three chances of 1305 Making it up with Alfonso, and an offer of 1306 Marriage alliance;

1307 And what he said was all right there in Mantua;1308 But Pio, sometime or other, Pio lost his pustulous temper.

1309 And they struck alum at Tolfa, in the pope's land,1310 To pay for their devilment.1311 And Francesco said:1312 I also have suffered.1313 When you take it, give me a slice.1314 And they nearly jailed a chap for saying1315 The job was mal hecho; and they caught poor old Pasti1316 In Venice, and were like to pull all his teeth out;1317 And they had a bow-shot at Borso1318 As he was going down the Grand Canal in his gondola1319 (the nice kind with 26 barbs on it)

[Page 47]

1320 And they said: Novvy'll sell any man1321 for the sake of Count Giacomo.1322 (Piccinino, the one that fell out of the window).


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1323 And they came at us with their ecclesiastical legates1324 Until the eagle lit on his tent pole.1325 And he said: The Romans would have called that an augury1326 E gradment li antichi cavaler romanj1327 davano fed a quisti annutii,

1328 All I want you to do is to follow the orders,1329 They've got a bigger army,1330 but there are more men in this camp.

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XI

1331 E gradment li antichi cavaler romanj1332 davano fed a quisti annutii1333 And he put us under the chiefs,1334 and the chiefs went back to their squadrons:1335 Bernardo Reggio, Nic Benzo, Giovan Nestorno,1336 Paulo Viterbo, Buardino of Brescia,1337 Cetho Brandolino,

1338 And Simone Malespina, Petracco Saint Archangelo,1339 Rioberto da Canossa,1340 And for the tenth Agniolo da Roma1341 And that gay bird Piero della Bella,1342 And to the eleventh Roberto,1343 And the papishes were three thousand on horses,1344 dilly cavalli tre milia,1345 And a thousand on foot,1346 And the Lord Sigismundo had but mille tre cento cavalli1347 And hardly 500 fanti (and one spingard),1348 And we beat the papishes and fought

1349 them back through the tents1350 And he came up to the dyke again1351 And fought through the dyke-gate1352 And it went on from dawn to sunset1353 And we broke them and took their baggage1354 and mille cinquecento cavalli1355 E li homini di Messire Sigismundo1356 non furono che mille trecento


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[Page 50]

1395 And an old woman came in and giggled to see him1396 sitting there in the dark1397 She nearly fell over him,

1398 And he thought:1399 Old Zuliano is finished,1400 If he's left anything we must see the kids get it,1401 Write that to Robert.1402 And Vanni must give that peasant a decent price for hishorses,1403 Say that I will refund.

1404 And the writs run in Fano,1405 For the long room over the arches

1406 Sub annulo piscatoris, palatium seu curiam OLIM de Malatestis.1407 Gone, and Cesena, Zezena d'''e b'''e colonne,1408 And the big diamond pawned in Venice,1409 And he gone out into Morea,1410 Where they sent him to do in the Mo'ammeds,1411 With 5,000 against 25,000,1412 and he nearly died out in Sparta,1413 Morea, Lakedęmon,1414 and came back with no pep in him1415 And we sit here. I have sat here1416 For forty four thousand years,

1417 And they trapped him down here in the marsh land,1418 in '46 that was;1419 And the poor devils dying of cold, that was Rocca Sorano;1420 And he said in his young youth:1421 Vogliamo,1422 che le donne, we will that they, le donne, go ornate,1423 As be their pleasure, for the city's glory thereby.

1424 And Platina said afterward,1425 when they jailed him

1426 And the Accademia Romana,1427 For singing to Zeus in the catacombs,

[Page 51]

1428 Yes, I saw him when he was down here1429 Ready to murder fatty Barbo, "Formosus,"1430 And they want to know what we talked about?


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1465 Actum in Castro Sigismundo, presente Roberto de Valturibus1466 .. sponte et ex certa scienta ... to Enricho de Aquabello.

[Page 53]

XII

1467 And we sit here1468 under the wall,

1469 Arena romana, Diocletian's, les gradins1470 quarante-trois rangées en calcaire.1471 Baldy Bacon1472 bought all the little copper pennies in Cuba:1473 Un centavo, dos centavos,1474 told his peons to "bring 'em in."1475 "Bring 'em to the main shack," said Baldy,1476 And the peons brought 'em;1477 "to the main shack brought 'em,"1478 As Henry would have said.1479 Nicholas Castano in Habana,

1480 He also had a few centavos, but the others1481 Had to pay a percentage.1482 Percentage when they wanted centavos,1483 Public centavos.1484 Baldy's interest1485 Was in money business.1486 "No interest in any other kind uv bisnis,"1487 Said Baldy.1488 Sleeping with two buck niggers chained to him,1489 Guardia regia, chained to his waist1490 To keep 'em from slipping off in the night;

1491 Being by now unpopular with the Cubans;1492 By fever reduced to lbs. 108.1493 Returned to Manhattan, ultimately to Manhattan.1494 24 E. 47th, when I met him,1495 Doing job printing, i.e., agent,1496 going to his old acquaintances,1497 His office in Nassau St., distributing jobs to the printers,


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[Page 54]

1498 Commercial stationery,1499 and later, insurance,1500 Employers' liability,

1501 odd sorts of insurance,1502 Fire on brothels, etc., commission,1503 Rising from 15 dollars a week,1504 Pollon d'anthropon iden,1505 Knew which shipping companies were most careless;1506 where a man was most likely1507 To lose a leg in bad hoisting machinery;1508 Also fire, as when passing a whore-house,1509 Arrived, miraculous Hermes, by accident,1510 Two minutes after the proprietor's angelos1511 Had been sent for him.

1512 Saved his people 11,000 in four months1513 on that Cuba job,1514 But they busted,1515 Also ran up to 40,000 bones on his own,1516 Once, but wanted to "eat up the whole'r Wall St."1517 And dropped it all three weeks later.1518 Habitat cum Quade, damn good fellow,1519 Mons Quade who wore a monocle on a wide sable ribbon.1520 (Elsewhere recorded).1521 Dos Santos, José Maria dos Santos,1522 Hearing that a grain ship

1523 Was wrecked in the estuary of the Tagus,1524 Bought it at auction, nemo obstabat,1525 No one else bidding. "Damn fool!" "Maize1526 Spoiled with salt water,1527 No use, can't do anything with it." Dos Santos.1528 All the stuff rotted with sea water.1529 Dos Santos Portuguese lunatic bought it,1530 Mortgaged then all his patrimony,1531 e tot lo sieu aver,1532 And bought sucking pigs, pigs, small pigs,

[Page 55]

1533 Porkers, throughout all Portugal,1534 fed on the cargo,1535 First lot mortgaged to buy the second lot, undsoweiter,1536 Porkers of Portugal,1537 fattening with the fulness of time,1538 And Dos Santos fattened, a great landlord of Portugal


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1539 Now gathered to his fathers.1540 Did it on water-soaked corn.1541 (Water probably fresh in that estuary)1542 Go to hell Apovitch, Chicago aint the whole punkin.1543 Jim X ...

1544 in a bankers' meeting,1545 bored with their hard luck stories,1546 Bored with their bloomin' primness1547 and the little white rims1548 They wore around inside the edge of their vests1549 To make 'em look as if they had on two waistcoats,1550 Told 'em the Tale of the Honest Sailor.1551 Bored with their proprieties,1552 as they sat, the ranked presbyterians,1553 Directors, dealers through holding companies,1554 Deacons in churches, owning slum properties,

1555 Alias usurers in excelsis,1556 the quintessential essence of usurers,1557 The purveyors of employment, whining over their 20 p. c.1558 and the hard times,1559 And the bust-up of Brazilian securities1560 (S. A. securities),1561 And the general uncertainty of all investment1562 Save investment in new bank buildings,1563 productive of bank buildings,1564 And not likely to ease distribution,1565 Bored with the way their mouths twitched

1566 over their cigar-ends,

[Page 56]

1567 Said Jim X ...:1568 There once was a pore honest sailor, a heavy drinker,1569 A hell of a cuss, a rowster, a boozer, and1570 The drink finally sent him to hospital,1571 And they operated, and there was a poor whore in1572 The woman's ward had a kid, while1573 They were fixing the sailor, and they brought him the kid

1574 When he came to, and said:1575 "Here! this is what we took out of you."

1576 An' he looked at it, an' he got better,1577 And when he left the hospital, quit the drink,1578 And when he was well enough1579 signed on with another ship


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1611 And "we are unknown," said Kung,1612 "You will take up charioteering?1613 Then you will become known,1614 "Or perhaps I should take up charioteering, or archery?1615 "Or the practice of public speaking?"

1616 And Tseu-lou said, "I would put the defences in order,"1617 And Khieu said, "If I were lord of a province1618 I would put it in better order than this is."1619 And Tchi said, "I would prefer a small mountain temple,1620 "With order in the observances,1621 with a suitable performance of the ritual,"1622 And Tian said, with his hand on the strings of his lute1623 The low sounds continuing1624 after his hand left the strings,1625 And the sound went up like smoke, under the leaves,1626 And he looked after the sound:

1627 "The old swimming hole,1628 "And the boys flopping off the planks,1629 "Or sitting in the underbrush playing mandolins."1630 And Kung smiled upon all of them equally.1631 And Thseng-sie desired to know:1632 "Which had answered correctly?"1633 And Kung said, "They have all answered correctly,1634 "That is to say, each in his nature."1635 And Kung raised his cane against Yuan Jang,1636 Yuan Jang being his elder,

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1637 For Yuan Jang sat by the roadside pretending to1638 be receiving wisdom.1639 And Kung said1640 "You old fool, come out of it,1641 Get up and do something useful."1642 And Kung said1643 "Respect a child's faculties1644 "From the moment it inhales the clear air,1645 "But a man of fifty who knows nothing

1646 Is worthy of no respect."1647 And "When the prince has gathered about him1648 "All the savants and artists, his riches will be fully employed."1649 And Kung said, and wrote on the bo leaves:1650 If a man have not order within him1651 He can not spread order about him;1652 And if a man have not order within him1653 His family will not act with due order;


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1654 And if the prince have not order within him1655 He can not put order in his dominions.1656 And Kung gave the words "order"1657 and "brotherly deference"1658 And said nothing of the "life after death."

1659 And he said1660 "Anyone can run to excesses,1661 It is easy to shoot past the mark,1662 It is hard to stand firm in the middle."

1663 And they said: If a man commit murder1664 Should his father protect him, and hide him?1665 And Kung said:1666 He should hide him.

1667 And Kung gave his daughter to Kong-Tch'ang1668 Although Kong-Tch'ang was in prison.1669 And he gave his niece to Nan-Young1670 although Nan-Young was out of office.

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1671 And Kung said "Wang ruled with moderation,1672 In his day the State was well kept,1673 And even I can remember

1674 A day when the historians left blanks in their writings,1675 I mean for things they didn't know,1676 But that time seems to be passing."1677 And Kung said, "Without character you will1678 be unable to play on that instrument1679 Or to execute the music fit for the Odes.1680 The blossoms of the apricot1681 blow from the east to the west,1682 And I have tried to keep them from falling."

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1683 Io venni in luogo d'ogni luce muto;1684 The stench of wet coal, politicians1685 . . . . . . . . . e and . . . . . n, their wrists bound to

1686 their ankles,1687 Standing bare bum,1688 Faces smeared on their rumps,1689 wide eye on flat buttock,1690 Bush hanging for beard,1691 Addressing crowds through their arse-holes,1692 Addressing the multitudes in the ooze,1693 newts, water-slugs, water-maggots,1694 And with them. . . . . . . r,1695 a scrupulously clean table-napkin1696 Tucked under his penis,

1697 and . . . . . . . . . . . m1698 Who disliked colloquial language,1699 Stiff-starched, but soiled, collars1700 circumscribing his legs,1701 The pimply and hairy skin1702 pushing over the collar's edge,1703 Profiteers drinking blood sweetened with sh-t,1704 And behind them . . . . . . f and the financiers1705 lashing them with steel wires.

1706 And the betrayers of language1707 . . . . . . n and the press gang1708 And those who had lied for hire;1709 the perverts, the perverters of language,1710 the perverts, who have set money-lust1711 Before the pleasures of the senses;

1712 howling, as of a hen-yard in a printing-house,1713 the clatter of presses,

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1714 the blowing of dry dust and stray paper,1715 foetor, sweat, the stench of stale oranges,1716 dung, last cess-pool of the universe,1717 mysterium, acid of sulphur,1718 the pusillanimous, raging;1719 plunging jewels in mud,


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1757 pets-de-loup, sitting on piles of stone books,1758 obscuring the texts with philology,1759 hiding them under their persons,1760 the air without refuge of silence,1761 the drift of lice, teething,

1762 and above it the mouthing of orators,1763 the arse-belching of preachers.1764 And Invidia,1765 the corruptio, foetor, fungus,1766 liquid animals, melted ossifications,1767 slow rot, foetid combustion,1768 chewed cigar-butts, without dignity, without tragedy,1769 . . . . .m Episcopus, waving a condom full of black-beetles,1770 monopolists, obstructors of knowledge,1771 obstructors of distribution.

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1772 The saccharescent, lying in glucose,1773 the pompous in cotton wool1774 with a stench like the fats at Grasse,1775 the great scabrous arse-hole, sh-tting flies,1776 rumbling with imperialism,1777 ultimate urinal, middan, pisswallow without a cloaca,1778 . . . . . . r less rowdy, . . . . . . Episcopus1779 . . . . . . . . sis,1780 head down, screwed into the swill,1781 his legs waving and pustular,1782 a clerical jock strap hanging back over the navel

1783 his condom full of black beetles,1784 tattoo marks round the anus,1785 and a circle of lady golfers about him.

1786 the courageous violent1787 slashing themselves with knives,1788 the cowardly inciters to violence


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1789 . . . . . n and. . . . . . . .h eaten by weevils,1790 . . . . . . . ll like a swollen foetus.1791 the beast with a hundred legs, USURA1792 and the swill full of respecters,1793 bowing to the lords of the place,

1794 explaining its advantages,1795 and the laudatores temporis acti1796 claiming that the sh-t used to be blacker and richer1797 and the fabians crying for the petrification of putrefaction,1798 for a new dung-flow cut in lozenges,1799 the conservatives chatting,1800 distinguished by gaiters of slum-flesh,1801 and the back-scratchers in a great circle,1802 complaining of insufficient attention,

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1803 the search without end, counterclaim for the missing scratch1804 the litigious,1805 a green bile-sweat, the news owners, . . . . s1806 the anonymous1807 . . . . . . . ffe, broken1808 his head shot like a cannon-ball toward the glassgate,1809 peering through it an instant,1810 falling back to the trunk, epileptic,1811 et nulla fidentia inter eos,

1812 all with their twitching backs,1813 with daggers, and bottle ends, waiting an1814 unguarded moment;

1815 a stench, stuck in the nostrils;1816 beneath one1817 nothing that might not move,1818 mobile earth, a dung hatching obscenities,1819 inchoate error,1820 boredom born out of boredom,

1821 british weeklies, copies of the . . . . . . . . . . c,1822 a multiple . . . . . . nn,1823 and I said, "How is it done?"1824 and my guide:1825 This sort breeds by scission,1826 This is the fourmillionth tumour.1827 In this bolge bores are gathered,1828 Infinite pus flakes, scabs of a lasting pox.


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1829 skin-flakes, repetitions, erosions,1830 endless rain from the arse-hairs,1831 as the earth moves, the centre

1832 passes over all parts in succession,1833 a continual bum-belch1834 distributing its productions.

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1835 Andiamo!1836 One's feet sunk,1837 the welsh of mud gripped one, no hand-rail,1838 the bog-suck like a whirl-pool,1839 and he said:

1840 Close the pores of your feet!1841 And my eyes clung to the horizon,1842 oil mixing with soot;1843 and again Plotinus:1844 To the door,1845 Keep your eyes on the mirror.1846 Prayed we to the Medusa,1847 petrifying the soil by the shield,1848 Holding it downward1849 he hardened the track1850 Inch before us, by inch,

1851 the matter resisting,1852 The heads rose from the shield,1853 hissing, held downwards.1854 Devouring maggots,1855 the face only half potent,1856 The serpents' tongues1857 grazing the swill top,1858 Hammering the souse into hardness,1859 the narrow rast,1860 Half the width of a sword's edge.1861 By this through the dern evil,

1862 now sinking, now clinging,1863 Holding the unsinkable shield.1864 Oblivion,1865 forget how long,1866 sleep, fainting nausea.1867 "Whether in Naishapur or Babylon"1868 I heard in the dream.1869 Plotinus gone,


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1870 And the shield tied under me, woke;1871 The gate swung on its hinges;

1872 Panting like a sick dog, staggered,1873 Bathed in alkali, and in acid.18741875 blind with the sunlight,1876 Swollen-eyed, rested,1877 lids sinking, darkness unconscious.

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1878 And before hell mouth; dry plain1879 and two mountains;1880 On the one mountain, a running form,1881 and another

1882 In the turn of the hill; in hard steel1883 The road like a slow screw's thread,1884 The angle almost imperceptible,1885 so that the circuit seemed hardly to rise;1886 And the running form, naked, Blake,1887 Shouting, whirling his arms, the swift limbs,1888 Howling against the evil,1889 his eyes rolling,1890 Whirling like flaming cart-wheels,1891 and his head held backward to gaze on the evil1892 As he ran from it,

1893 to be hid by the steel mountain,1894 And when he showed again from the north side;1895 his eyes blazing toward hell mouth,1896 His neck forward,1897 and like him Peire Cardinal.1898 And in the west mountain, Il Fiorentino,1899 Seeing hell in his mirror,1900 and lo Sordels


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1940 and founders, gazing at the mounts of their cities.

1941 The plain, distance, and in fount-pools1942 the nymphs of that water

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1943 rising, spreading their garlands,1944 weaving their water reeds with the boughs,1945 In the quiet,1946 and now one man rose from his fountain1947 and went off into the plain.

1948 Prone in that grass, in sleep;

1949 et j'entendis des voix:...1950 wall . . . Strasbourg1951 Galliffet led that triple charge. . . Prussians1952 and he said [Plarr's narration]1953 it was for the honour of the army.1954 And they called him a swashbuckler.1955 I didn't know what it was1956 But I thought: This is pretty bloody damn fine.1957 And my old nurse, he was a man nurse, and1958 He killed a Prussian and he lay in the street1959 there in front of our house for three days

1960 And he stank. . . . . . .1961 Brother Percy,1962 And our Brother Percy...1963 old Admiral1964 He was a middy in those days,1965 And they came into Ragusa1966 . . . . . . place those men went for the Silk War. . . . .1967 And they saw a procession coming down through1968 A cut in the hills, carrying something1969 The six chaps in front carrying a long thing1970 on their shoulders,

1971 And they thought it was a funeral,1972 but the thing was wrapped up in scarlet,1973 And he put off in the cutter,1974 he was a middy in those days,1975 To see what the natives were doing,1976 And they got up to the six fellows in livery,

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1977 And they looked at it, and I can still hear the old admiral,1978 "Was it? it was1979 Lord Byron1980 Dead drunk, with the face of an A y n. . . . . . . .

1981 He pulled it out long, like that:1982 the face of an a y n. . . . . . . . gel."

1983 And because that son of a bitch,1984 Franz Josef of Austria......1985 And because that son of a bitch Napoléon Barbiche ...1986 They put Aldington on Hill 70, in a trench1987 dug through corpses1988 With a lot of kids of sixteen,1989 Howling and crying for their mamas,

1990 And he sent a chit back to his major:1991 I can hold out for ten minutes1992 With my sergeant and a machine-gun.1993 And they rebuked him for levity.1994 And Henri Gaudier went to it,1995 and they killed him,1996 And killed a good deal of sculpture,1997 And ole T.E.H. he went to it,1998 With a lot of books from the library,1999 London Library, and a shell buried 'em in a dug-out,2000 And the Library expressed its annoyance.

2001 And a bullet hit him on the elbow2002 ... gone through the fellow in front of him,2003 And he read Kant in the Hospital, in Wimbledon,2004 in the original,2005 And the hospital staff didn't like it.

2006 And Wyndham Lewis went to it,2007 With a heavy bit of artillery,2008 and the airmen came by with a mitrailleuse,2009 And cleaned out most of his company,

2010 and a shell lit on his tin hut,

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2011 While he was out in the privvy,2012 and he was all there was left of that outfit.


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2013 Windeler went to it,2014 and he was out in the Ęgęan,2015 And down in the hold of his ship2016 pumping gas into a sausage,2017 And the boatswain looked over the rail,

2018 down into amidships, and he said:2019 Gees! look a' the Kept'n,2020 The Kept'n's a-gettin' 'er up.

2021 And Ole Captain Baker went to it,2022 with his legs full of rheumatics,2023 So much so he couldn't run,2024 so he was six months in hospital,2025 Observing the mentality of the patients.

2026 And Fletcher was 19 when he went to it,2027 And his major went mad in the control pit,2028 about midnight, and started throwing the 'phoneabout2029 And he had to keep him quiet2030 till about six in the morning,2031 And direct that bunch of artillery.

2032 And Ernie Hemingway went to it,

2033 too much in a hurry,2034 And they buried him for four days.

2035 Et ma foi, vous savez,2036 tous les nerveux. Non,2037 Y a une limite; les bźtes, les bźtes ne sont2038 Pas faites pour ēa, c'est peu de chose un cheval.2039 Les hommes de 34 ans ą quatre pattes2040 qui criaient "maman." Mais les costauds,2041 La fin, lą ą Verdun, n'y avait que ces gros bonshommes

2042 Et y voyaient extrźmement clair.

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2043 Qu'est-ce que ēa vaut, les généraux, le lieutenant,2044 on les pčse ą un centigramme,2045 n'y a rien que du bois,2046 Notr' capitaine, tout, tout ce qu'il y a de plus renfermé


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2047 de vieux polytechnicien, mais solide,2048 La tźte solide. Li, vous savez,2049 Tout, tout fonctionne, et les voleurs, tous les vices,2050 Mais les rapaces,2051 y avait trois dans notre compagnie, tous tués.

2052 Y sortaient fouiller un cadavre, pour rien,2053 y n'seraient sortis pour rien que ēa.2054 Et les boches, tout ce que vous voulez,2055 militarisme, et cętera, et cętera.2056 Tout ēa, mais, MAIS,2057 l'franēais, i s'bat quand y a mangé.2058 Mais ces pauvres types2059 A la fin y s'attaquaient pour manger,2060 Sans ordres, les bźtes sauvages, on y fait2061 Prisonniers; ceux qui parlaient franēais disaient:2062 "Poo quah? Ma foi on attaquait pour manger."

2063 C'est le corr-ggras, le corps gras,2064 leurs trains marchaient trois kilomčtres ą l'heure,2065 Et ēa criait, ēa grincait, on l'entendait ą cinq kilomčtres.2066 (Ēa qui finit la guerre.)

2067 Liste officielle des morts 5,000,000.

2068 I vous dit, bč, voui, tout sentait le pétrole.2069 Mais, Non! je l'ai engueulé.2070 Je lui ai dit: T'es un con! T'a raté la guerre.

2071 O voui! tous les hommes de goūt, y conviens,2072 Tout ēa en arričre.2073 Mais un mec comme toi!

[Page 74]

2074 C't homme, un type comme ēa!2075 Ce qu'il aurait pu encaisser!2076 Il était dans une fabrique.2077 What, burying squad, terrassiers, avec leur tźte2078 en arričre, qui regardaient comme ēa,2079 On risquait la vie pour un coup de pelle,2080 Faut que ēa soit bien carré, exact ...


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2119 On the other side of the square2120 And cut down the lieutenant of infantry2121 And that was the revolution ...2122 as soon as they named it.

2123 And you can't make 'em,2124 Nobody knew it was coming. They were all ready, the old gang,2125 Guns on the top of the post-office and the palace,2126 But none of the leaders knew it was coming.

2127 And there were some killed at the barracks,2128 But that was between the troops.

2129 So we used to hear it at the opera,2130 That they wouldn't be under Haig;2131 and that the advance was beginning;2132 That it was going to begin in a week.

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2133 So that the vines burst from my fingers2134 And the bees weighted with pollen2135 Move heavily in the vine-shoots:2136 chirr---chirr---chir-rikk---a purring sound,2137 And the birds sleepily in the branches.2138 ZAGREUS IO ZAGREUS!

2139 With the first pale-clear of the heaven2140 And the cities set in their hills,2141 And the goddess of the fair knees2142 Moving there, with the oak-woods behind her,2143 The green slope, with white hounds2144 leaping about her;2145 And thence down to the creek's mouth, until evening,2146 Flat water before me,


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2188 And by one cut of the hills,2189 the great alley of Memnons.2190 Beyond, sea, crests seen over dune2191 Night sea churning shingle,2192 To the left, the alley of cypress.

2193 A boat came,2194 One man holding her sail,

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2195 Guiding her with oar caught over gunwale, saying:2196 " There, in the forest of marble,2197 " the stone trees---out of water---2198 " the arbours of stone---2199 " marble leaf, over leaf,2200 " silver, steel over steel,

2201 " silver beaks rising and crossing,2202 " prow set against prow,2203 " stone, ply over ply,2204 " the gilt beams flare of an evening"2205 Borso, Carmagnola, the men of craft, i vitrei,2206 Thither, at one time, time after time,2207 And the waters richer than glass,2208 Bronze gold, the blaze over the silver,2209 Dye-pots in the torc-light,2210 The flash of wave under prows,2211 And the silver beaks rising and crossing.

2212 Stone trees, white and rose-white in the darkness,2213 Cypress there by the towers,2214 Drift under hulls in the night.

2215 "In the gloom the gold2216 Gathers the light about it." ...

2217 Now supine in burrow, half over-arched bramble,2218 One eye for the sea, through that peek-hole,

2219 Gray light, with Athene.2220 Zothar and her elephants, the gold loin-cloth,2221 The sistrum, shaken, shaken,2222 the cohorts of her dancers.2223 And Aletha, by bend of the shore,2224 with her eyes seaward,2225 and in her hands sea-wrack2226 Salt-bright with the foam.


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2227 Koré through the bright meadow,2228 with green-gray dust in the grass:

[Page 79]

2229 "For this hour, brother of Circe."2230 Arm laid over my shoulder,2231 Saw the sun for three days, the sun fulvid,2232 As a lion lift over sand-plain;2233 and that day,2234 And for three days, and none after,2235 Splendour, as the splendour of Hermes,2236 And shipped thence2237 to the stone place,2238 Pale white, over water,2239 known water,

2240 And the white forest of marble, bent bough over bough,2241 The pleached arbour of stone,2242 Thither Borso, when they shot the barbed arrow at him,2243 And Carmagnola, between the two columns,2244 Sigismundo, after that wreck in Dalmatia.2245 Sunset like the grasshopper flying.

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2246 And of Kublai:2247 "I have told you of that emperor's city in detail2248 And will tell you of the coining in Cambaluc2249 that hyght the secret of alchemy:

2250 They take bast of the mulberry-tree,2251 That is a skin between the wood and the bark,2252 And of this they make paper, and mark it2253 Half a tornesel, a tornesel, or a half-groat of silver,2254 Or two groats, or five groats, or ten groats,2255 Or, for a great sheet, a gold bezant, 3 bezants,2256 ten bezants;2257 And they are written on by officials,


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2258 And smeared with the great khan's seal in vermilion;2259 And the forgers are punished with death.2260 And all this costs the Kahn nothing,2261 And so he is rich in this world.2262 And his postmen go sewed up and sealed up,

2263 Their coats buttoned behind and then sealed,2264 In this way from the voyage's one end to its other.2265 And the Indian merchants arriving2266 Must give up their jewels, and take this money2267 in paper,2268 (That trade runs, in bezants, to 400,000 the year.)2269 And the nobles must buy their pearls"2270 --- thus Messire Polo; prison at Genoa ---2271 "Of the Emperor."2272 There was a boy in Constantinople,2273 And some britisher kicked his arse.

2274 "I hate these french," said Napoleon, aged 12,2275 To young Bourrienne, "I will do them all the harm2276 that I can."2277 In like manner Zenos Metevsky.

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2278 And old Biers was out there, a greenhorn,2279 To sell cannon, and Metevsky found the back door;2280 And old Biers sold the munitions,2281 And Metevsky died and was buried, i. e. officially,

2282 And sat in the Yeiner Kafé watching the funeral.2283 About ten years after this incident,2284 He owned a fair chunk of Humbers.2285 "Peace! Pieyce!!" said Mr. Giddings,2286 "Uni-ver-sal? Not while yew got tew billions ov money,"2287 Said Mr. Giddings, "invested in the man-u-facture2288 "Of war machinery. Haow I sold it to Russia---2289 "Well we tuk 'em a new torpedo-boat,2290 "And it was all electric, run it all from a2291 "Little bit uv a keyboard, about like the size ov2292 "A typewriter, and the prince come aboard,

2293 "An' we sez wud yew like to run her?2294 "And he run damn slam on the breakwater,2295 "And bust off all her front end,2296 "And he was my gawd scared out of his panties.2297 "Who wuz agoin' tew pay fer the damage?2298 "And it was my first trip out fer the company,2299 "And I sez, yer highness, it is nothing,2300 "We will give yew a new one. And, my Christ!


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2301 "The company backed me, and did we get a few orders?"2302 So La Marquesa de las Zojas y Hurbara2303 Used to drive up to Sir Zenos's place2304 in the Champs Elysées2305 And preside at his dinners, and at las once

2306 She drove away from the front door, with her footmen2307 And her coachman in livery, and drove four blocks round2308 To the back door, and her husband was the son of a bitch,2309 And Metevsky, "the well-known philanthropist,"2310 Or "the well-known financier, better known,"2311 As the press said, "as a philanthropist,"2312 Gave --- as the Este to Louis Eleventh, ---

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2313 A fine pair of giraffes to the nation,

2314 And endowed a chair of ballistics,2315 And was consulted before the offensives.

2316 And Mr. Oige was very choleric in a first-class2317 From Nice to Paris, he said: "Danger!2318 "Now a sailor's life is a life of danger,2319 "But a mine, why every stick of it is numbered,2320 "And one time we missed one, and there was2321 "Three hundred men killed in the 'splosion."2322 He was annoyed with the strikers, having started himself

2323 As engineer and worked up, and losing,2324 By that coal strike, some months after the paragraph:

2325 : Sir Zenos Metevsky has been elected President2326 Of the Gethsemane Trebizond Petrol.2327 And then there came out another: 80 locomotives2328 On the Manchester Cardiff have been fitted with2329 New oil-burning apparatus ...2330 Large stocks of the heavier varieties of which (i. e. oil)2331 Are now on hand in the country.

2332 So I said to the old quaker Hamish,2333 I said: "I am interested." And he went putty colour2334 And said: "He don't advertise. No, I don't think2335 You will learn much." That was when I asked2336 About Metevsky Melchizedek.2337 He, Hamish, took the tractors up to


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2370 Sabotage? Yes, he took it up to Manhattan,2371 To the big company, and they said: Impossible.2372 And he said: I gawt ten thousand dollars, tew mak 'em,2373 And I am a goin' tew mak 'em, and you'll damn well2374 Have to install 'em, awl over the place.

2375 And they said: Oh, we can't have it.2376 So he settled for one-half of one million.2377 And he has a very nice place on the Hudson,2378 And that invention, patent, is still in their desk.2379 And the answer to that is: Wa'al he had the ten thousand.2380 And old Spinder, that put up the 1870 gothick memorial,2381 He tried to pull me on Marx, and he told me2382 About the "romance of his business":2383 How he came to England with something or other,2384 and sold it.2385 Only he wanted to talk about Marx, so I sez:

2386 Waal haow is it you're over here, right off the2387 Champz Elyza?2388 And how can yew be here? Why don't the fellers at home2389 Take it all off you? How can you leave your big business?2390 "Oh," he sez, "I ain't had to rent any money ...2391 "It's a long time since I ain't had tew rent any money."2392 Nawthin' more about Das Kapital,2393 Or credit, or distribution.2394 And he "never finished the book,"2395 That was the other chap, the slender diplomatdentist2396 Qui se faisait si beau.

2397 So we sat there, with the old kindly professor,2398 And the stubby little man was up-stairs.2399 And there was the slick guy in the other

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2400 corner reading The Tatler,2401 Not upside down, but never turning the pages,2402 And then I went up to the bed-room, and he said,2403 The stubby fellow: Perfectly true,2404 "But it's a question of feeling,

2405 "Can't move 'em with a cold thing, like economics."2406 And so we came down stairs and went out,2407 And the slick guy looked out of the window,2408 And in came the street "Lemme-at-'em"2409 like a bull-dog in a mackintosh.2410 O my Clio!2411 Then the telephone didn't work for a week.

2412 Ever seen Prishnip, little hunchback,2413 Couldn't take him for any army.

2414 And he said: I haf a messache from dh' professor,2415 "There's lots of 'em want to go over,2416 "But when they try to go over,2417 "Dh' hRussian boys shoot 'em, and they want to know2418 "How to go over."

2419 Vlettmann?... was out there, and that was,2420 Say, two months later, and he said:2421 "Jolly chaps," he said; "they used to go by2422 "Under my window, at two o'clock in the morning,

2423 "All singing, all singing the Hé Sloveny!"

2424 Yes, Vlettmann, and the Russian boys didn't shoot'em.2425 Short story, entitled, the Birth of a Nation.2426 And there was that squirt of an Ausstrrian2427 with a rose in his button-hole,2428 And how the hell he stayed on here,2429 right through the whole bhloody business,2430 Cocky as Khristnoze, and enjoying every Boche victory.2431 Naphtha, or some damn thing for the submarines,

[Page 86]

2432 Like they had, just had, to have the hemp2433 via Rotterdam.2434 Das thust du nicht, Albert?2435 That was in the old days, all sitting around in arm-chairs,2436 And that's gone, like the cake shops in the Nevsky.


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2437 "No use telling 'em anything, revolutionaries,2438 Till they're at the end,2439 Oh, absolootly, AT the end of their tether.2440 Governed. Governed the place from a train,2441 Or rather from three trains, on a railway,

2442 And he'd keep about three days ahead of the lobby,2443 I mean he had his government on the trains,2444 And the lobby had to get there on horseback;2445 And he said: Bigod it's damn funny,2446 Own half the oil in the world, and can't get enough2447 To run a government engine!"2448 And then they jawed for two hours,2449 And finally Steff said: Will you fellows show me a map?2450 And they brought one, and Steff said:2451 "Waal what are those lines?" "Yes, those straight lines."2452 "Those are roads." And "what are those lines,

2453 "The wiggly ones?" "Rivers."2454 And Steff said: "Government property?"

2455 So two hours later an engine went off with the order:2456 How to dig without confiscation.

2457 And Tommy Baymont said to Steff one day:2458 "You think we run it, lemme tell you,2459 "We bought a coalmine, I mean the mortgage fell in,

2460 "And you'd a' thought we could run it.

2461 "Well I had to go down there meself, and the manager2462 "Said: "Run it, of course we can run it,2463 "We can't sell the damn coal."

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2464 So I said to the X. and B. Central,

2465 --- you'd say we boss the X. and B. Central? ---2466 I said: You buy your damn coal from our mine.2467 And a year later they hadn't; so I had up the directors,2468 And they said:... well anyhow, they couldn't2469 buy the damn coal.2470 And next week ole Jim came, the big fat one2471 With the diamonds, and he said: "Mr. Baymont,2472 You just must charge two dollars more


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2473 A ton fer that coal. And the X. and B. will2474 Take it through us."

2475 "So there was my ole man sitting,

2476 They were in arm-chairs, according to protocol,2477 And next him his nephew Mr. Wurmsdorf,2478 And old Ptierstoff, for purely family reasons,2479 Personal reasons, was held in great esteem2480 by his relatives,2481 And he had his despatches from St. Petersburg,2482 And Wurmsdorf had his from Vienna,2483 And he knew, and they knew, and each knew2484 That the other knew that the other knew he knew,2485 And Wurmsdorf was just reaching into his pocket,2486 That was to start things, and then my ole man

2487 Said it:2488 Albert, and the rest of it.2489 Those days are gone by for ever."

2490 "Ten years gone, ten years of my life,2491 Never get those ten years back again:2492 Ten years of my life, ten years in the Indian army;2493 But anyhow, there was that time in Yash (Jassy):2494 That was something, 14 girls in a fortnight."2495 "Healthy but verminous?" "That's it, healthy but verm

17137610 Pound Ezra the Cantos

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