Robert Graves

“ Worm talk, clashing jaws of moth
Chumbling holes in cloth:
The groan of ants who undertake
Gigantic loads for honour's sake,
Their sinews creak, their breath comes thin:
Whir of spiders when they spin,
And minute whispering, mumbling, sighs
Of idle grubs and flies.
This man is quickened so with grief,
He wanders god-like or like thief
Inside and out, below, above,
Without relief seeking lost love.
[30]
FOX'S DINGLE ”

“ Kit Logan, who is father to your boy?
But Helen knows, too well:
Listen what biting taunts they both employ,
Watch their red anger swell.
Yet each would give her undying soul to be
Changed to the other's place. ”

“ Halloo to Pepper-Mint Street,
Follow by the fells to the great North Plain,
By the fells and the river—
To the cold North Plain.
How came this passion to them,
this passion to them,
Love in a freshet on Black Horse Lane? ”

“ Half-riddles, answerless, the more intense!—
Lost bars of music tinkling with no sense
Recur, drowning uneasy superstition.
Mouth open, he was lying, this sick man,
And sinking all the while; how had he come
To sink? On better nights his dream went flying,
Dipping, sailing the pasture of his sleep,
But now, since clock and cock, had sunk him down
Through mattress, bed, floor, floors beneath, stairs, cellars,
Through deep foundations of the manse; still sinking
Through unturned earth. ”

“ Strained backward from the task that holds us bound,
It beams on set jaw and hate-maddened eye.
The vast stone lifts, turns, topples, in its fall
Spreads death: but we who live raise a shrill chant
Of joy for sacrifice cleansing us all. ”

“ The breath roaring out,
And once that is flown,
You must lie alone,
Without hope, without life,
Poor flesh, sad bone.
[29]
LOST LOVE
His eyes are quickened so with grief,
He can watch a grass or leaf
Every instant grow ”

“ Under the stairs, my son, under the stairs.
"Do not avenge me, Henry. Let all slide.
I grudge your death. See, do not touch the snake.
A cowardice taints you from your father's side
And a coward's lusts, but curb them, for my sake! ”

“ Up your broad stairs mounting with outspread fingers
And gliding steadfast down your corridors
I come by nightly custom to this room,
And even on sultry afternoons I come
Drawn by a thread of time-sunk memory.
Empty, unless for a huge bed of state
Shrouded with rusty curtains drooped awry
(A puppet theatre where malignant fancy
Peoples the wings with fear) . ”

“ We meet in fields beyond; be sure of it, Prinny!"
On the next night
The busy Gnat, swollen to giant size,
Pent-up within the skull, knew certainly,
As a bird knows in the egg, his hour was come.
The thrice repeated call had given him summons ...
He must out, crack the shell, out, out!
He strains, claps his wings, arches his back,
Drives in his talons, out! out! ”

“ Helen looks down at rags, her fluttering pride
Caught in this cage of glass,
Eager to trudge, thieve, beg by the road-side,
Or starving to eat grass ...
Silence. Wrath dies. For Woman's old good name
Each swears a sister's oath;
Weeping, they kiss; to the Squire's lasting shame,
Who broke the heart in both.
[36]
DOWN
Downstairs a clock had chimed, two o'clock only. ”

“ Neglecting man....
Fade, fail, innocent stars
On the green of May;
She has left our bournes for ever,
Too fine to stay.
[47]
THE CORONATION MURDER
In Four Parts "Fairplay's good sport, and we're all mortal worms."—Mrs. Delilah Becker. ”