The cantos of ezra pound [from The Cantos of Ezra Pound (1972)]
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1916 And the embryos, in flux, 1917 new inflow, submerging, 1918 Here an arm upward, trout, submerged by the eels; 1919 and from the bank, the stiff herbage 1920 the dry nobbled path, saw many known, and unknown, 1921 for an instant; 1922 submerging, 1923 The face gone, generation. 1924 Then light air, under saplings, 1925 the blue banded lake under æther, 1926 an oasis, the stones, the calm field, 1927 the grass quiet, 1928 and passing the tree of the bough 1929 The grey stone posts, 1930 and the stair of gray stone, 1931 the passage clean-squared in granite: 1932 descending, 1933 and I through this, and into the earth, 1934 patet terra, 1935 entered the quiet air 1936 the new sky, 1937 the light as after a sun-set, 1938 and by their fountains, the heroes, 1939 Sigismundo, and Malatesta Novello, 1940 and founders, gazing at the mounts of their cities. 1941 The plain, distance, and in fount-pools 1942 the nymphs of that water [Page 70] 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 fountain 1947 and went off into the plain. 1948 Prone in that grass, in sleep; 1949 et j'entendis des voix:... 1950 wall . . . Strasbourg 1951 Galliffet led that triple charge. . . Prussians 1952 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 was 1956 But I thought: This is pretty bloody damn fine. 1957 And my old nurse, he was a man nurse, and 1958 He killed a Prussian and he lay in the street 1959 there in front of our house for three days 1960 And he stank. . . . . . . 1961 Brother Percy, 1962 And our Brother Percy... 1963 old Admiral 1964 He was a middy in those days, 1965 And they came into Ragusa 1966 . . . . . . place those men went for the Silk War. . . . . 1967 And they saw a procession coming down through 1968 A cut in the hills, carrying something 1969 The six chaps in front carrying a long thing 1970 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, [Page 71] 1977 And they looked at it, and I can still hear the old admiral, 1978 "Was it? it was 1979 Lord Byron 1980 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 trench 1987 dug through corpses 1988 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 minutes 1992 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 elbow 2002 ... 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, [Page 72] 2011 While he was out in the privvy, 2012 and he was all there was left of that outfit. 2013 Windeler went to it, 2014 and he was out in the Ægæan, 2015 And down in the hold of his ship 2016 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 'phone about 2029 And he had to keep him quiet 2030 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 bêtes, les bêtes ne sont 2038 Pas faites pour ça, c'est peu de chose un cheval. 2039 Les hommes de 34 ans à quatre pattes 2040 qui criaient "maman." Mais les costauds, 2041 La fin, là à Verdun, n'y avait que ces gros bonshommes 2042 Et y voyaient extrêmement clair. [Page 73] 2043 Qu'est-ce que ça vaut, les généraux, le lieutenant, 2044 on les pèse à un centigramme, 2045 n'y a rien que du bois, 2046 Notr' capitaine, tout, tout ce qu'il y a de plus renfermé 2047 de vieux polytechnicien, mais solide, 2048 La tête 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 ça. 2054 Et les boches, tout ce que vous voulez, 2055 militarisme, et cætera, et cætera. 2056 Tout ça, mais, MAIS, 2057 l'français, i s'bat quand y a mangé. 2058 Mais ces pauvres types 2059 A la fin y s'attaquaient pour manger, 2060 Sans ordres, les bêtes sauvages, on y fait 2061 Prisonniers; ceux qui parlaient français disaient: 2062 "Poo quah? Ma foi on attaquait pour manger." 2063 C'est le corr-ggras, le corps gras, 2064 leurs trains marchaient trois kilomètres à l'heure, 2065 Et ça criait, ça grincait, on l'entendait à cinq kilomètres. 2066 (Ça qui finit la guerre.) 2067 Liste officielle des morts 5,000,000. 2068 I vous dit, bè, 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 goût, y conviens, 2072 Tout ça en arrière. 2073 Mais un mec comme toi!
2075 Ce qu'il aurait pu encaisser! 2076 Il était dans une fabrique. 2077 What, burying squad, terrassiers, avec leur tête 2078 en arrière, qui regardaient comme ça, 2079 On risquait la vie pour un coup de pelle, 2080 Faut que ça soit bien carré, exact ... 2081 Dey vus a bolcheviki dere, und dey dease him: 2082 Looka vat youah Trotzsk is done, e iss 2083 madeh deh zhamefull beace!! 2084 "He iss madeh deh zhamefull beace, iss he? 2085 "He is madeh de zhamevul beace? 2086 "A Brest-Litovsk, yess? Aint yuh herd? 2087 "He vinneh de vore. 2088 "De droobs iss released vrom de eastern vront, yess? 2089 "Un venn dey getts to deh vestern vront, iss it 2090 "How many getts dere? 2091 "And dose doat getts dere iss so full off revolutions 2092 "Venn deh vrench is come dhru, yess, 2093 "Dey say, "Vot?" Un de posch say: 2094 "Aint yeh heard? Say, ve got a rheffolution." 2095 That's the trick with a crowd, 2096 Get 'em into the street and get 'em moving. 2097 And all the time, there were people going 2098 Down there, over the river. 2099 There was a man there talking, 2100 To a thousand, just a short speech, and 2101 Then move 'em on. And he said: 2102 Yes, these people, they are all right, they 2103 Can do everything, everything except act; 2104 And go an' hear 'em, but when they are through, 2105 Come to the bolsheviki ... [Page 75] 2106 And when it broke, there was the crowd there, 2107 And the cossacks, just as always before, 2108 But one thing, the cossacks said: 2109 "Pojalouista." 2110 And that got round in the crowd, 2111 And then a lieutenant of infantry 2112 Ordered 'em to fire into the crowd, 2113 in the square at the end of the Nevsky, 2114 In front of the Moscow station, 2115 And they wouldn't, 2116 And he pulled his sword on a student for laughing, 2117 And killed him, 2118 And a cossack rode out of his squad 2119 On the other side of the square 2120 And cut down the lieutenant of infantry 2121 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 fingers 2134 And the bees weighted with pollen 2135 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 heaven 2140 And the cities set in their hills, 2141 And the goddess of the fair knees 2142 Moving there, with the oak-woods behind her, 2143 The green slope, with white hounds 2144 leaping about her; 2145 And thence down to the creek's mouth, until evening, 2146 Flat water before me, 2147 and the trees growing in water, 2148 Marble trunks out of stillness, 2149 On past the palazzi, 2150 in the stillness, 2151 The light now, not of the sun. 2152 Chrysophrase, 2153 And the water green clear, and blue clear; 2154 On, to the great cliffs of amber. 2155 Between them, 2156 Cave of Nerea, 2157 she like a great shell curved, 2158 And the boat drawn without sound, 2159 Without odour of ship-work, 2160 Nor bird-cry, nor any noise of wave moving, 2161 Nor splash of porpoise, nor any noise of wave moving, 2162 Within her cave, Nerea, 2163 she like a great shell curved
2165 cliff green-gray in the far, 2166 In the near, the gate-cliffs of amber, 2167 And the wave 2168 green clear, and blue clear, 2169 And the cave salt-white, and glare-purple, 2170 cool, porphyry smooth, 2171 the rock sea-worn. 2172 No gull-cry, no sound of porpoise, 2173 Sand as of malachite, and no cold there, 2174 the light not of the sun. 2175 Zagreus, feeding his panthers, 2176 the turf clear as on hills under light. 2177 And under the almond-trees, gods, 2178 with them, choros nympharum. Gods, 2179 Hermes and Athene, 2180 As shaft of compass, 2181 Between them, trembled--- 2182 To the left is the place of fauns, 2183 sylva nympharum; 2184 The low wood, moor-scrub, 2185 the doe, the young spotted deer, 2186 leap up through the broom-plants, 2187 as dry leaf amid yellow. 2188 And by one cut of the hills, 2189 the great alley of Memnons. 2190 Beyond, sea, crests seen over dune 2191 Night sea churning shingle, 2192 To the left, the alley of cypress. 2193 A boat came, 2194 One man holding her sail,
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 gold 2216 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-wrack 2226 Salt-bright with the foam. 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 thence 2237 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 detail 2248 And will tell you of the coining in Cambaluc 2249 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 it 2253 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, 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 arriving 2266 Must give up their jewels, and take this money 2267 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 harm 2276 that I can." 2277 In like manner Zenos Metevsky. [Page 81] 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-facture 2288 "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 a 2291 "Little bit uv a keyboard, about like the size ov 2292 "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! 2301 "The company backed me, and did we get a few orders?" 2302 So La Marquesa de las Zojas y Hurbara 2303 Used to drive up to Sir Zenos's place 2304 in the Champs Elysées 2305 And preside at his dinners, and at las once 2306 She drove away from the front door, with her footmen 2307 And her coachman in livery, and drove four blocks round 2308 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, ---
2314 And endowed a chair of ballistics, 2315 And was consulted before the offensives. 2316 And Mr. Oige was very choleric in a first-class 2317 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 was 2321 "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 President 2326 Of the Gethsemane Trebizond Petrol. 2327 And then there came out another: 80 locomotives 2328 On the Manchester Cardiff have been fitted with 2329 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 colour 2334 And said: "He don't advertise. No, I don't think 2335 You will learn much." That was when I asked 2336 About Metevsky Melchizedek. 2337 He, Hamish, took the tractors up to 2338 King Menelik, 3 rivers and 140 ravines. 2339 "Qu'est-ce qu'on pense ...?" I said: "On don't pense. 2340 "They're solid bone. You can amputate from just above 2341 The medulla, and it won't alter the life in that island." 2342 But he continued, "Mais, qu'EST-CE qu'on pense, 2343 "De la metallurgie, en Angleterre, qu'est-ce qu'on 2344 "Pense de Metevsky?" [Page 83] 2345 And I said: "They ain't heard his name yet. 2346 "Go ask at MacGorvish's bank." 2347 The Jap observers were much amused because 2348 The Turkish freemasons hadn't bothered to 2349 Take the..... regimental badges off their artillery. 2350 And old Hamish: Menelik 2351 Had a hunch that machinery ... and so on ... 2352 But he never could get it to work, 2353 never could get any power. 2354 The Germans wd. send him up boilers, but they'd 2355 Have to cut 'em into pieces to load 'em on camels, 2356 And they never got 'em together again. 2357 And so old Hamish went out there, 2358 And looked at the place, 3 rivers 2359 And a hundred and forty ravines, 2360 And he sent out two tractors, one to pull on the other 2361 And Menelik sent down an army, a 5000 black army 2362 With hawsers, and they all sweated and swatted. 2363 And the first thing Dave lit on when they got there 2364 Was a buzz-saw, 2365 And he put it through an ebony log: whhsssh, t ttt, 2366 Two days' work in three minutes. 2367 War, one war after another, 2368 Men start 'em who couldn't put up a good hen-roost. 2369 Also sabotage ...
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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 well 2374 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 me 2382 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 the 2387 Champz Elyza? 2388 And how can yew be here? Why don't the fellers at home 2389 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 diplomatdentist 2396 Qui se faisait si beau. Yüklə 2,9 Mb. Dostları ilə paylaş:
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