1.
DENIAL
On the secret seashore
white like a pigeon
we thirsted at noon;
but the water was brackish.
On the golden sand
we wrote her name;
but the sea-breeze blew
and the writing vanished.
With what spirit, what heart,
what desire and passion
we lived our life: a mistake!
So we changed our life.
From the collection The Turning Point. On many records it has the title On the Seashore.
2.
I'VE KEPT A HOLD ON MY LIFE
I've kept a hold on my life, kept a hold on my life, travelling
among yellow trees in driving rain
on silent slopes loaded with beech leaves
no fire on their peaks; it's getting dark.
Except from the Poem Epiphany 1937. The composer gave the title Epiphany to the four songs of this cycle.
3.
FLOWERS OF THE ROCK
Flowers of the rock facing the green sea
with veins that reminded me of other loves
glowing in the slow fine rain,
flowers of the rock, figures
that came when no one spoke and spoke to me
that let me touch them after the silence
among pine-trees, oleanders, and plane-trees.
Untitled poem drawn from the Book of Exercises.
4.
IN THE SEA CAVES
In the sea caves
there's a thirst there's a love
there's an ecstasy
all hard like shells
you can hold them in your palm.
In the sea caves
for whole days I gazed into your eyes
and I didn't know you nor did you know me.
Untitled poem drawn from the Book of Exercises.
All translations by Edmund Keeley and Philip Sherrard
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