Front matter
Reading edition
BY
OSBERT SITWELL
LONDON Chatto & Windus 1919
All rights reserved
TO THE MEMORY OF ROBERT ROSS
My thanks are due to Messrs. Blackwell for permission to reprint certain poems which first appeared in the anthology "Wheels," and to the editors of The Times, the Nation, Art and Letters, the Cambridge Magazine, Everyman, Colour, New Paths, and Poetry and Drama (New Series), for allowing me to reprint various poems which first appeared in their columns. Several of the war verses at the end of this volume first appeared in the Nation under the signature "Miles."
"HOW SHALL WE RISE TO GREET THE DAWN?"
How shall we rise to greet the dawn? Not timidly, With a hand above our eyes, But greet the strong light Joyfully; Nor will we mistake the dawn For the mid-day.
We must create and fashion a new God— A God of power, of beauty, and of strength— Created painfully, cruelly, Labouring from the revulsion of men's minds.
It is not that the money-changers Ply their trade Within the sacred places; But that the old God Has made the Stock Exchange his Temple. We must drive him from it. Why should we tinker with clay feet? We will fashion A perfect unity Of precious metals.
Let us tear the paper moon From its empty dome. Let us see the world with young eyes. Let us harness the waves to make power, And in so doing, Seek not to spoil their rolling freedom, But to endow The soiled and straining cities With the same splendour of strength.
We will not be afraid, Tho' the golden geese cackle in the Capitol, In fear That their eggs may be placed In an incubator. Continually they cackle thus— These venerable birds— Crying, "Those whom the Gods love Die young," Or something of that sort. But we will see that they live And prosper.
Let us prune the tree of language Of its dead fruit. Let us melt up the clichés Into molten metal; Fashion weapons that will scald and flay; Let us curb this eternal humour And become witty.
Let us dig up the dragon's teeth From this fertile soil; Swiftly, Before they fructify; Let us give them as medicine To the writhing monster itself.
We must create and fashion a new God— A God of power, of beauty, and of strength; Created painfully, cruelly, Labouring from the revulsion of men's minds. Cast down the idols of a thousand years, Crush them to dust Beneath the dancing rhythm of our feet. Oh! let us dance upon the weak and cruel: We must create and fashion a new God.
November, 1918.
CONTENTS
PREFACE POEM
"How shall We rise to Greet the Dawn?"
BOOK I: THE PHOENIX-FEASTERS
PART I
Prelude The Silence of God Adventure Dusk Sailor-Song The Dance Why should a Sailor ride the Sea?
PART II
Cornucopia Song Prospect Road
BOOK II: GREEN-FLY
War Horses Church-Parade At the House of Mrs. Kinfoot Green-fly De Luxe
BOOK III: PROMENADES
Nocturne Lament of the Mole Catcher The Beginning The End Fountains Song of the Fauns "A Sculptor's Cruelty" Pierrot Old Night From Carcassonne Progress Return of the Prodigal London Squares Tears Clavichords Promenades Clown Pondi Lausiac Theme Metamorphosis The Gipsy Queen Black Mass Pierrot at the War Spring Hours
BOOK IV: WAR POEMS
"Therefore is the Name of it called Babel" Twentieth-Century Harlequinade This Generation Sheep-Song The Poet's Lament Judas and the Profiteer Rhapsode The Modern Abraham The Trap The Eternal Club Heaven The Blind Pedlar Hymn to Moloch Armchair Ragtime Peace Celebration The Next War