Letitia Stockett

“ And the jewelled circlet they bound about her waist. Can a ruby make the Daughter of the Moon more fair? Like bright spears in battle are the young men, And the maidens braid the pomegranate blossoms in their hair. ”

“ WE are still; There are no words. Across the sky A wedge of birds Flies northward. Brown and thinned, A brittle leaf rasps in the wind. The sun creeps on from tree to tree.
We are still. Were a word spoken, Like a troubled pool Is silence broken. Better far be dumb. There are depths no stone could plumb; Circles widen endlessly.
[Pg 22]
JEWELS
EMERALD, ruby, amethyst, Sardius, beryl, topaz, jade ”

“ NOT with the drums, the throbbing scarlet drums, Not with the voice of a silver flute, Not with the brazen clangour of cymbals, Nor the trumpets slitting the silence; Not with the maelstrom of sound Monstrous, prodigious, Comes ecstasy. But with stillness As when a flame burns unflickering In far, empty places; With the quiet of a leaf falling in the forest; With the hush of the elevation of the Host.
[Pg 53]
ADAM ASLEEP
FAR away I hear the voices of four rivers flowing, Wings in the thicket, and the four winds blowing. ”

“ Hungry it goes, and fain Am I to be its Bread, and give My Body for its pain. For this I lay in the dark earth Through sun and singing rain.”
Into the vineyard I was sent, There One was keeping tryst. I cut the grapes—how beautiful Their bloomy amethyst! He said “This is my Blood, the Wine Poured for the world, ye wist. In wheat and grape ye work with me To make my Eucharist.”
[Pg 20]
TRUTH IN A WELL
I PEERED into a well, and saw The blue, blue eye of God Look into mine far from the sun, Far from the friendly sod. ”

“ And then to me was given A sight that one might dream, Three maidens white and glistening, Bathing in a stream.
One floated idly drifting, One shook her wet locks free, One stood as slender as a boy, As white as ivory;
Naked, unshamed, untrammelled; Ah, never did they know, I saw three maidens bathing Long, long ago.
[Pg 28]
AT THE SYMPHONY
THE lights grow dim. ”

“ Here she stood in shining white Her hands were kind and cool, Her eyes were very still that day, Serene and beautiful.
Out in the sun the garden glowed And I remember this: The fragrance of the grapes, a shower Of starry clematis.
[Pg 30]
FEBRUARY
ALL the rhythms of life are slow All the streams are choked with snow, Evening skies are pale, The very stars are still, On the long slope of the hill Woodsmoke weaves a pattern frail. ”

“ They danced, three maidens white and slim A measure, delicately trod. He loves no sad austerities, God is well praised by nymphs beneath the trees. [Pg 45]
My field was Heaven. An angel sped With a bright bolt, and pierced the Serpent’s head, Satan is under heel. Good beasts, enthralled, Velvet mole, and leathern wing, Worm with fiery sting, And every noisome slug that crawled Are all set free. God is not in some alien place. In my ploughed field I saw the brightness of his face.
[Pg 46]
HORSE CHESTNUTS
IN April my horse chestnuts Were beautiful to see! ”