The Rehearsal

four poems

THE REHEARSAL

Gentlemen, as we take our seats

In the darkened house, let us rehearse

The properties of the Western Theatre;

Attention: this is item one,

Cloth of the Sun and Moon, it is

The Firmament, see how it glitters,-

Life beyond life on earth, and

Beautiful. It has been praised;

Many regret to close their eyes

Upon it, the eternal skyscape

Which seems to wake at morning,

To burn at noon and to unveil

A silver mask at night. We do not

Hear it and yet its changes are

The Music of the Spheres, -

so much for that.

What of the others? plant life,

Animal life, the earthly spirits?

Item: a Lock of Gilded Hair

From the Head of Venus, a Tree

Of Poisoned Apples, a Yellow Snake,

A Hebrew Maiden and a Naked Man,-

We need not name them, they

Have walked out of the sight

Of God; they share our dark-

Ness. Here is a White Hot

Caldron for the Jew, a Chain

Of Dragons and Hell's Mouth,

And St. Sebastian with a Weeping

Eye,-tears? Four Glassy Tears,

Four Kingly Crowns: Russia,

France, Germany, Spain, a Wreath

Of Smoke, all painted on a curtain;

Behind the curtain, the West Wind,

And in the Wind, Three Cries of Beggars,

The Halt, the Maimed, the Blind.

Gentlemen, this is our Gold, our

Inheritance,-even the Gibbet,

The Mask of Folly and the Stake,

The Fall from Grace, the Earthly Power,-

We cannot sell it, and though

No actors come, we shall wear it

To warm us in the cave, protect

Us from heat on the rocks, from

Dark, from flood, from moving mountains

Among ice, the fire of lightning,

The drifting wilderness of snow.