A HYMN TO DIONYSUS IN SPRING
Reading edition
Yellow the sands of the shores of Elis, and over the creaming Foam-flakes that flutter and curl on the edge of the dreaming Mediterranean, Jupiter arches his azure dome. Here to the somnolent sands the Aeolian women have come, The dreamers, all languid with silence of spring-tide dreaming, And they stand with their hair unbound and their feet in the foam. The heart of the morning beats with a swooning, amorous beating, And the nymph-cool waters and brazen sunshine meeting, Mingle where indolent spring-tide ripples shimmer and burn; Out to the dim horizon the eyes of the dreamers yearn, And like flutes are the low, soft voices that chant thus, entreating The God, Dionysus, to rise from the sea and return. “Bitter thy roving hath been, O Hunter, and stricken with madness, And thy winter frenzy hath torn us with torment of sadness— Horror of blood in the mouth and of murderous lusts that bring Shadows a-couch in the forest from under us shuddering. We are sick of the feverish nights that have stolen our gladness— Ah! we are weary of winter and fain of the Spring!” “Thy foes, O Hunter, have goaded thy soul, but their goading is over, For every unfolding leaf is a shield for thy cover And every grass-blade upraises a spear that is scimitar-keen, Gladly the flowers will weave thee a mantle to wander unseen. Slim as a willow-wand, Ariadne awaits thee, her lover, And her heart is full of the dreams that are cool and green.” “Hyé, the Dew, thy mother, sorrows because of thy going, And the film-pale, rain-sweet Hyades fleeing and flowing, Dissolved from the rainbow and river to rise in the sap of the tree, Leave never their dolorous grieving, lamenting in quest of thee. And the succulent vine and the spirit of all things growing Cry ‘Dionysus, return! Oh, return from the sea!’” “Wilt thou forsake us forever, unheeding our sedulous plaining? See’st not the clusters of pale green globes, crescent and straining Sunwards, that long for thy hand to engarb them with royal attire? Hear us, O Wine-God; return to us! Kindle once more Desire!” So chant the Aeolian women till the light be waning While the foam breaks over their feet in soft folds of fire. The robes of the sun are red, and close to the earth he dozes; The long day lingers, then slowly and silently closes The shadowy orient gates, climbing upward stair by stair, Raising her evening face to the stars in the spring-tide air. Lo! the sea is aglow and aflame with the odor of roses! Lo! a glimpse of the God with the sun in his yellow hair!
Recent Publications
Price Post
Love of One’s Neighbor—Leonid Andreyev Boards .40 .05
A satirical comedy by the greatest of the modern Russians.
Mariana—José Echegaray Cloth .75 .10
The masterpiece of modern Spain’s greatest writer.
Chants Communal—Horace Traubel Boards 1.00 .10
Inspirational prose pieces. Paper .25 .05
Collects—Horace Traubel Cloth 1.00 .10
Jack London says: “His is the vision of the poet and the voice of the poet.” Paper .50 Paid
Horace Traubel—Mildred Bain Boards .50 .05
Not Guilty—Robert Blatchford Cloth .50 .10
A defence of the bottom-dog. Paper .25 .05
The Diary of a Suicide—Wallace Baker Cloth 1.00 .08
“The confession of a youth who was prematurely tired.” Paper .50 Paid
The Case of Mexico—De Zayas Cloth 1.35 0.10
Our Irrational Distribution of Wealth—Byron C. Mathews Cloth 1.00 .10
Des Imagistes—An Anthology Cloth 1.00 .07
“It sticks out of the crowd like a tall marble monument.”—The New Weekly.
The Thresher’s Wife—Harry Kemp Boards .40 .05
A narrative poem of great strength and originality.
An English Dante—John Pyne Boards 1.00 .07
A translation in the original rhythm and rhymes.
Erna Vitek—Alfred Kreymborg Cloth 1.00 .10
A new form of the novel. A study of character solely by the narration of events.
Complete Catalog Ready July 30. Send For It.
ALBERT & CHARLES BONI 96 Fifth Avenue New York City
POETRY
A Magazine of Verse
Edited by HARRIET MONROE
543 Cass Street, Chicago
Established October, 1912, and endowed for an initial period of five years.
POETRY publishes the finest work of living American and English poets, and especially forwards recognition of those younger poets whose acceptance might otherwise be retarded by a lack of adventurous appreciation.
Have You Read
On Heaven, by Ford Madox Hueffer
Chicago Poems, by Carl Sandburg
Eros Turannos, by Edwin Arlington Robinson
The Code—Heroics, by Robert Frost
Nishikigi, by Ernest Fenellosa
Running to Paradise, by W. B. Yeats
Songs of Deliverance, by Orrick Johns
A Woman and Her Dead Husband, by D. H. Lawrence
Roumanian Poems, by Maurice Aisen
The Fireman’s Ball, by Nicholas Vachel Lindsay
Narratives, by Rabindranath Tagore
POETRY is published monthly Annual subscription $1.50. Single copies 15 cents
Circular sent on request Sample copy on receipt of 15 cents
The Little Review Lowers Its Price
$1.50 a Year - 15 Cents a Copy
The Little Review
Literature Drama Music Art
MARGARET C. ANDERSON, Editor
THE NEW MONTHLY WHICH HAS BEEN CALLED “THE MOST VITAL THING EVER STARTED IN AMERICA”
To reach everybody who wants “The Little Review” we have decided to become more accessible.
Subscriptions now $1.50 a year; single copies 15 cents.
The next issue will be ready the first day of September, and the magazine will be published hereafter promptly on the first of every month.
The September issue contains the following:
POEMS: Maxwell Bodenheim
After Feeling Deux Arabesques by Debussy
Let Me Not Live Too Long
To a Violinist
Gifts
To a Woman
Hell
The Nietzschean Love of Eternity George Burman Foster
Grocer Shops and Souls
The Democrat With apologies to Mr. Galsworthy
The Constructive Reasoner
POEMS: Amy Lowell
Clear, with Light Variable Winds
Fool’s Moneybags
The Crucified Dionysus Alexander S. Kaun
The Poetry of Revolt Charles Ashleigh
The Venetian Dramatists Irma McArthur
The Obituary of a Poet Floyd Dell
Humbugging the Public Henry Blackman Sell
London Letter Amy Lowell
You may make fifty cents on every subscription you send us on the new basis.
917 FINE ARTS BUILDING, CHICAGO
The June Number Swept the Country
The July is Still Better
Don’t Forget to Order Your Copy of
The Masses
A yearly subscription will insure an immediate and regular delivery each month of this unique periodical
10 cents a Copy $1.00 a Year
THE MASSES PUB. CO. 91 GREENWICH AVENUE NEW YORK
The October issue of THE GLEBE will present
EARTH-SPIRIT
By Frank Wedekind.
Contents of Volume I:
Songs, Sighs and Curses. By Adolf Wolff 60c.
The Diary of a Suicide. By Wallace E. Baker 50c.
The Azure Adder. By Charles Demuth 35c.
Love of One’s Neighbor. By Leonid Andreyev 35c.
Des Imagistes. An Anthology 50c.
Erna Vitek. By Alfred Kreymborg. All sold.
Collects. By Horace Traubel 50c.
Hereafter all single copies will be 50 cents.
The subscription price per year is $3.00.
The original spelling was mostly preserved. A few obvious typographical errors were silently corrected. All other changes are listed here (before/after):
... Fled, the panting, goat-shankid clan, ... ... Fled, the panting, goat-shank’d clan, ...
... The wind blows in and the wind blows out. ... ... The wind blows in and the wind blows out ...