CANTO IV

CANTO IV

1First came the peal that split the heavens apartStraight overhead. Then silence. Then the rain;Twelve miles of downward water like one dart,And in one leap were launched along the plain,To break the budding flower and flood the grain,And keep with dripping sound an undersongAmid the wheeling thunder all night long.2He put his hands before his face. He stoopedBlind with his hair. The loud drops’ grim tattooBeat him to earth. Like summer grass he drooped,Amazed, while sheeted lightning large and blueBlinked wide and pricked the quivering eyeball through.Then, scrambling to his feet, with downward headHe fought into the tempest as chance led.3The wood was mad. Soughing of branch and strainingWas there: drumming of water. Light was noneNor knowledge of himself. The trees’ complainingAnd his own throbbing heart seemed mixed in one,One sense of bitter loss and beauty undone;All else was blur and chaos and rain-steamAnd noise and the confusion of a dream.4Aha!... Earth hates a miserable man:Against him even the clouds and winds conspire.Heaven’s voice smote Dymer’s ear-drum as he ran,Its red throat plagued the dark with corded fire—Barbed flame, coiled flame that ran like living wireCharged with disastrous current, left and rightAbout his path, hell-blue or staring white.5Stab! Stab! Blast all at once. What’s he to fear?Look there—that cedar shrivelling in swift blightEven where he stood! And there—ah, that came near!Oh, if some shaft would break his soul outright,What ease so to unload and scatter quiteOn the darkness this wild beating in his skull,Too burning to endure, too tense and full.6All lost: and driven away: even her nameUnknown. O fool, to have wasted for a kissTime when they could have talked! An angry shameWas in him. He had worshipt earth, and this—The venomed clouds fire spitting from the abyss,This was the truth indeed, the world’s intentUnmasked and naked now, the thing it meant.7The storm lay on the forest a great time—Wheeled in its thundery circuit, turned, returned.Still through the dead-leaved darkness, through the slimeOf standing pools and slots of clay storm-churnedWent Dymer. Still the knotty lightning burnedAlong black air. He heard the unbroken soundOf water rising in the hollower ground.8He cursed it in his madness, flung it back,Sorrow as wild as young men’s sorrows are,Till, after midnight, when the tempest’s trackDrew off, between two clouds appeared one star.Then his mood changed. And this was heavier far,When bit by bit, rarer and still more rare,The weakening thunder ceased from the cleansed air;9When leaves began to drip with dying rainAnd trees showed black against the glimmering sky,When the night-birds flapped out and called againAbove him: when the silence cool and shyCame stealing to its own, and streams ran byNow audible amid the rustling wood—Oh, then came the worst hour for flesh and blood.10It was no nightmare now with fiery streamToo horrible to last, able to blendItself and all things in one hurrying dream;It was the waking world that will not endBecause hearts break, that is not foe nor friend,Where sane and settled knowledge first appearsOf workday desolation, with no tears.11He halted then, foot-sore, weary to deathAnd heard his heart beating in solitude,When suddenly the sound of sharpest breathIndrawn with pain and the raw smell of bloodSurprised his sense. Near by to where he stoodCame a long whimpering moan—a broken word,A rustle of leaves where some live body stirred.12He groped towards the sound. “What, brother, brother,Who groaned?”—“I’m hit. I’m finished. Let me be.”—“Put out your hand, then. Reach me. No, the other.”—“Don’t touch. Fool! Damn you. Leave me.”—“I can’t see.Where are you?” Then more groans. “They’ve done for me.I’ve no hands. Don’t come near me. No, but stay,Don’t leave me ... oh my God! Is it near day?”13—“Soon now, a little longer. Can you sleep?I’ll watch for you.”—“Sleep, is it? That’s ahead,But none till then. Listen, I’ve bled too deepTo last out till the morning. I’ll be deadWithin the hour—sleep then. I’ve heard it saidThey don’t mind at the last, but this is Hell.If I’d the strength—I have such things to tell.”14All trembling in the dark and sweated overLike a man reared in peace, unused to pain,Sat Dymer near him in the lightless cover,Afraid to touch and shamefaced to refrain.Then bit by bit and often checked againWith agony the voice told on. (The placeWas dark, that neither saw the other’s face.)15“There is a City which men call in scornThe Perfect City—eastward of this wood—You’ve heard about the place. There I was born.I’m one of them, their work. Their sober mood,The ordered life, the laws, are in my blood—A life ... well, less than happy, something moreThan the red greed and lusts that went before.16“All in one day one man and at one blowBrought ruin on us all. There was a boy—Blue eyes, large limbs, were all he had to show,You need no greater prophets to destroy.He seemed a man asleep. Sorrow and joyHad passed him by—the dreamiest, safest man,The most obscure, until this curse began.17“Then—how or why it was, I cannot say,This Dymer, this fool baby pink-and-white,Went mad beneath his quiet face. One day,With nothing said, he rose and laughed outrightBefore his master: then, in all our sight,Even where we sat to watch, he struck him deadAnd screamed with laughter once again and fled.18“Lord! how it all comes back. How still the place is,And he there lying dead ... only the soundOf a bluebottle buzzing ... sharpened facesStrained, gaping from the benches all around...The dead man hunched and quiet with no wound,And minute after minute terror creepingWith dreadful hopes to set the wild heart leaping.19“Then one by one at random (no word spoken),We slipt out to the sunlight and away.We felt the empty sense of something brokenAnd comfortless adventure all that day.Men loitered at their work and could not sayWhat trembled at their lips or what new lightWas in girls’ eyes. Yet we endured till night.20“Then ... I was lying wide awake in bed,Shot through with tremulous thought, lame hopes, and sweetDesire of reckless days—with burning head.And then there came a clamour from the street,Came nearer, nearer, nearer—stamping feetAnd screaming song and curses and a shoutOf ‘Who’s for Dymer, Dymer?—Up and out!’21“We looked out from our window. Thronging thereA thousand of our people, girls and men,Raved and reviled and shouted by the glareOf torches and of bonfire blaze. And thenCame tumult from the street beyond: again‘Dymer’ they cried. And farther off there cameThe sound of gun-fire and the gleam of flame.22“I rushed down with the rest. Oh, we were mad!After this, it’s all nightmare. The black skyBetween the housetops framed was all we hadTo tell us that the old world could not dieAnd that we were no gods. The flood ran highWhen first I came, but after was the worse,Oh, to recall...! On Dymer rest the curse!23“Our leader was a hunchback with red hair—Bran was his name. He had that kind of forceAbout him that will hold your eyes fast thereAs in ten miles of green one patch of gorseWill hold them—do you know? His lips were coarseBut his eyes like a prophet’s—seemed to fillThe whole face. And his tongue was never still.24“He cried: ‘As Dymer broke, we’ll break the chain.The world is free. They taught you to be chasteAnd labour and bear orders and refrain.Refrain? From what? All’s good enough. We’ll tasteWhatever is. Life murmurs from the wasteBeneath the mind ... who made the reasoning partThe jailer of the wild gods in the heart?’25“We were a ragtail crew—wild-haired, half dressed,All shouting, ‘Up, for Dymer! Up away!’Yet each one always watching all the restAnd looking to his back. And some were gayLike drunk men, some were cringing, pinched and greyWith terror dry on the lip. (The older onesHad had the sense enough to bring their guns.)26“The wave where I was swallowed swelled and broke,After long surge, into the open square.And here there was more light: new clamour woke.Here first I heard the bullets sting the airAnd went hot round the heart. Our lords were thereIn barricade with all their loyal men.For every one man loyal Bran led ten.27“Then charge and cheer and bubbling sobs of death,We hovered on their front. Like swarming beesTheir spraying bullets came—no time for breath.I saw men’s stomachs fall out on their knees;And shouting faces, while they shouted, freezeInto black, bony masks. Before we knewWe’re into them.... ‘Swine!’—‘Die, then’—‘That’s for you.’28“The next that I remember was a lullAnd sated pause. I saw an old, old manLying before my feet with shattered skullAnd both my arms dripped red. And then came BranAnd at his heels a hundred murderers ran,With prisoners now, clamouring to take and try themAnd burn them, wedge their nails up, crucify them.29“God!... Once the lying spirit of a causeWith maddening words dethrones the mind of men,They’re past the reach of prayer. The eternal lawsHate them. Their eyes will not come clean again,But doom and strong delusion drive them thenWithout ruth, without rest ... the iron laughterOf the immortal mouths goes hooting after.30“And we had firebrands too. Tower after towerFell sheathed in thundering flame. The street was likeA furnace mouth. We had them in our power!Then was the time to mock them and to strike,To flay men and spit women on the pike,Bidding them dance. Wherever the most shameWas done the doer called on Dymer’s name.31“Faces of men in torture ... from my mindThey will not go away. The East lay stillIn darkness when we left the town behindFlaming to light the fields. We’d had our will:We sang, ‘Oh, we will make the frost distilFrom Time’s grey forehead into living dewAnd break whatever has been and build new.’32“Day found us on the border of this wood,Blear-eyed and pale. Then the most part beganTo murmur and to lag, crying for foodAnd shelter. But we dared not answer Bran.Wherever in the ranks the murmur ranHe’d find it—‘You, there, whispering. Up, you sneak,Reactionary, eh? Come out and speak.’33“Then there’d be shrieks, a pistol shot, a cry,And someone down. I was the third he caught.The others pushed me out beneath his eye,Saying, ‘He’s here; here, Captain.’ Who’d have thought,My old friends? But I know now. I’ve been taught ...They cut away my two hands and my feetAnd laughed and left me for the birds to eat.34“Oh, God’s name! If I had my hands againAnd Dymer here ... it would not be my bloodI am stronger now than he is, old with pain,One grip would make him mine. But it’s no good,I’m dying fast. Look, Stranger, where the woodGrows lighter. It’s the morning. Stranger dear,Don’t leave me. Talk a little while. Come near.”35But Dymer, sitting hunched with knee to chin,Close to the dying man, answered no word.His face was stone. There was no meaning inHis wakeful eyes. Sometimes the other stirredAnd fretted, near his death; and Dymer heard,Yet sat like one that neither hears nor sees.And the cold east whitened beyond the trees.

1First came the peal that split the heavens apartStraight overhead. Then silence. Then the rain;Twelve miles of downward water like one dart,And in one leap were launched along the plain,To break the budding flower and flood the grain,And keep with dripping sound an undersongAmid the wheeling thunder all night long.2He put his hands before his face. He stoopedBlind with his hair. The loud drops’ grim tattooBeat him to earth. Like summer grass he drooped,Amazed, while sheeted lightning large and blueBlinked wide and pricked the quivering eyeball through.Then, scrambling to his feet, with downward headHe fought into the tempest as chance led.3The wood was mad. Soughing of branch and strainingWas there: drumming of water. Light was noneNor knowledge of himself. The trees’ complainingAnd his own throbbing heart seemed mixed in one,One sense of bitter loss and beauty undone;All else was blur and chaos and rain-steamAnd noise and the confusion of a dream.4Aha!... Earth hates a miserable man:Against him even the clouds and winds conspire.Heaven’s voice smote Dymer’s ear-drum as he ran,Its red throat plagued the dark with corded fire—Barbed flame, coiled flame that ran like living wireCharged with disastrous current, left and rightAbout his path, hell-blue or staring white.5Stab! Stab! Blast all at once. What’s he to fear?Look there—that cedar shrivelling in swift blightEven where he stood! And there—ah, that came near!Oh, if some shaft would break his soul outright,What ease so to unload and scatter quiteOn the darkness this wild beating in his skull,Too burning to endure, too tense and full.6All lost: and driven away: even her nameUnknown. O fool, to have wasted for a kissTime when they could have talked! An angry shameWas in him. He had worshipt earth, and this—The venomed clouds fire spitting from the abyss,This was the truth indeed, the world’s intentUnmasked and naked now, the thing it meant.7The storm lay on the forest a great time—Wheeled in its thundery circuit, turned, returned.Still through the dead-leaved darkness, through the slimeOf standing pools and slots of clay storm-churnedWent Dymer. Still the knotty lightning burnedAlong black air. He heard the unbroken soundOf water rising in the hollower ground.8He cursed it in his madness, flung it back,Sorrow as wild as young men’s sorrows are,Till, after midnight, when the tempest’s trackDrew off, between two clouds appeared one star.Then his mood changed. And this was heavier far,When bit by bit, rarer and still more rare,The weakening thunder ceased from the cleansed air;9When leaves began to drip with dying rainAnd trees showed black against the glimmering sky,When the night-birds flapped out and called againAbove him: when the silence cool and shyCame stealing to its own, and streams ran byNow audible amid the rustling wood—Oh, then came the worst hour for flesh and blood.10It was no nightmare now with fiery streamToo horrible to last, able to blendItself and all things in one hurrying dream;It was the waking world that will not endBecause hearts break, that is not foe nor friend,Where sane and settled knowledge first appearsOf workday desolation, with no tears.11He halted then, foot-sore, weary to deathAnd heard his heart beating in solitude,When suddenly the sound of sharpest breathIndrawn with pain and the raw smell of bloodSurprised his sense. Near by to where he stoodCame a long whimpering moan—a broken word,A rustle of leaves where some live body stirred.12He groped towards the sound. “What, brother, brother,Who groaned?”—“I’m hit. I’m finished. Let me be.”—“Put out your hand, then. Reach me. No, the other.”—“Don’t touch. Fool! Damn you. Leave me.”—“I can’t see.Where are you?” Then more groans. “They’ve done for me.I’ve no hands. Don’t come near me. No, but stay,Don’t leave me ... oh my God! Is it near day?”13—“Soon now, a little longer. Can you sleep?I’ll watch for you.”—“Sleep, is it? That’s ahead,But none till then. Listen, I’ve bled too deepTo last out till the morning. I’ll be deadWithin the hour—sleep then. I’ve heard it saidThey don’t mind at the last, but this is Hell.If I’d the strength—I have such things to tell.”14All trembling in the dark and sweated overLike a man reared in peace, unused to pain,Sat Dymer near him in the lightless cover,Afraid to touch and shamefaced to refrain.Then bit by bit and often checked againWith agony the voice told on. (The placeWas dark, that neither saw the other’s face.)15“There is a City which men call in scornThe Perfect City—eastward of this wood—You’ve heard about the place. There I was born.I’m one of them, their work. Their sober mood,The ordered life, the laws, are in my blood—A life ... well, less than happy, something moreThan the red greed and lusts that went before.16“All in one day one man and at one blowBrought ruin on us all. There was a boy—Blue eyes, large limbs, were all he had to show,You need no greater prophets to destroy.He seemed a man asleep. Sorrow and joyHad passed him by—the dreamiest, safest man,The most obscure, until this curse began.17“Then—how or why it was, I cannot say,This Dymer, this fool baby pink-and-white,Went mad beneath his quiet face. One day,With nothing said, he rose and laughed outrightBefore his master: then, in all our sight,Even where we sat to watch, he struck him deadAnd screamed with laughter once again and fled.18“Lord! how it all comes back. How still the place is,And he there lying dead ... only the soundOf a bluebottle buzzing ... sharpened facesStrained, gaping from the benches all around...The dead man hunched and quiet with no wound,And minute after minute terror creepingWith dreadful hopes to set the wild heart leaping.19“Then one by one at random (no word spoken),We slipt out to the sunlight and away.We felt the empty sense of something brokenAnd comfortless adventure all that day.Men loitered at their work and could not sayWhat trembled at their lips or what new lightWas in girls’ eyes. Yet we endured till night.20“Then ... I was lying wide awake in bed,Shot through with tremulous thought, lame hopes, and sweetDesire of reckless days—with burning head.And then there came a clamour from the street,Came nearer, nearer, nearer—stamping feetAnd screaming song and curses and a shoutOf ‘Who’s for Dymer, Dymer?—Up and out!’21“We looked out from our window. Thronging thereA thousand of our people, girls and men,Raved and reviled and shouted by the glareOf torches and of bonfire blaze. And thenCame tumult from the street beyond: again‘Dymer’ they cried. And farther off there cameThe sound of gun-fire and the gleam of flame.22“I rushed down with the rest. Oh, we were mad!After this, it’s all nightmare. The black skyBetween the housetops framed was all we hadTo tell us that the old world could not dieAnd that we were no gods. The flood ran highWhen first I came, but after was the worse,Oh, to recall...! On Dymer rest the curse!23“Our leader was a hunchback with red hair—Bran was his name. He had that kind of forceAbout him that will hold your eyes fast thereAs in ten miles of green one patch of gorseWill hold them—do you know? His lips were coarseBut his eyes like a prophet’s—seemed to fillThe whole face. And his tongue was never still.24“He cried: ‘As Dymer broke, we’ll break the chain.The world is free. They taught you to be chasteAnd labour and bear orders and refrain.Refrain? From what? All’s good enough. We’ll tasteWhatever is. Life murmurs from the wasteBeneath the mind ... who made the reasoning partThe jailer of the wild gods in the heart?’25“We were a ragtail crew—wild-haired, half dressed,All shouting, ‘Up, for Dymer! Up away!’Yet each one always watching all the restAnd looking to his back. And some were gayLike drunk men, some were cringing, pinched and greyWith terror dry on the lip. (The older onesHad had the sense enough to bring their guns.)26“The wave where I was swallowed swelled and broke,After long surge, into the open square.And here there was more light: new clamour woke.Here first I heard the bullets sting the airAnd went hot round the heart. Our lords were thereIn barricade with all their loyal men.For every one man loyal Bran led ten.27“Then charge and cheer and bubbling sobs of death,We hovered on their front. Like swarming beesTheir spraying bullets came—no time for breath.I saw men’s stomachs fall out on their knees;And shouting faces, while they shouted, freezeInto black, bony masks. Before we knewWe’re into them.... ‘Swine!’—‘Die, then’—‘That’s for you.’28“The next that I remember was a lullAnd sated pause. I saw an old, old manLying before my feet with shattered skullAnd both my arms dripped red. And then came BranAnd at his heels a hundred murderers ran,With prisoners now, clamouring to take and try themAnd burn them, wedge their nails up, crucify them.29“God!... Once the lying spirit of a causeWith maddening words dethrones the mind of men,They’re past the reach of prayer. The eternal lawsHate them. Their eyes will not come clean again,But doom and strong delusion drive them thenWithout ruth, without rest ... the iron laughterOf the immortal mouths goes hooting after.30“And we had firebrands too. Tower after towerFell sheathed in thundering flame. The street was likeA furnace mouth. We had them in our power!Then was the time to mock them and to strike,To flay men and spit women on the pike,Bidding them dance. Wherever the most shameWas done the doer called on Dymer’s name.31“Faces of men in torture ... from my mindThey will not go away. The East lay stillIn darkness when we left the town behindFlaming to light the fields. We’d had our will:We sang, ‘Oh, we will make the frost distilFrom Time’s grey forehead into living dewAnd break whatever has been and build new.’32“Day found us on the border of this wood,Blear-eyed and pale. Then the most part beganTo murmur and to lag, crying for foodAnd shelter. But we dared not answer Bran.Wherever in the ranks the murmur ranHe’d find it—‘You, there, whispering. Up, you sneak,Reactionary, eh? Come out and speak.’33“Then there’d be shrieks, a pistol shot, a cry,And someone down. I was the third he caught.The others pushed me out beneath his eye,Saying, ‘He’s here; here, Captain.’ Who’d have thought,My old friends? But I know now. I’ve been taught ...They cut away my two hands and my feetAnd laughed and left me for the birds to eat.34“Oh, God’s name! If I had my hands againAnd Dymer here ... it would not be my bloodI am stronger now than he is, old with pain,One grip would make him mine. But it’s no good,I’m dying fast. Look, Stranger, where the woodGrows lighter. It’s the morning. Stranger dear,Don’t leave me. Talk a little while. Come near.”35But Dymer, sitting hunched with knee to chin,Close to the dying man, answered no word.His face was stone. There was no meaning inHis wakeful eyes. Sometimes the other stirredAnd fretted, near his death; and Dymer heard,Yet sat like one that neither hears nor sees.And the cold east whitened beyond the trees.

1

1

First came the peal that split the heavens apartStraight overhead. Then silence. Then the rain;Twelve miles of downward water like one dart,And in one leap were launched along the plain,To break the budding flower and flood the grain,And keep with dripping sound an undersongAmid the wheeling thunder all night long.

First came the peal that split the heavens apart

Straight overhead. Then silence. Then the rain;

Twelve miles of downward water like one dart,

And in one leap were launched along the plain,

To break the budding flower and flood the grain,

And keep with dripping sound an undersong

Amid the wheeling thunder all night long.

2

2

He put his hands before his face. He stoopedBlind with his hair. The loud drops’ grim tattooBeat him to earth. Like summer grass he drooped,Amazed, while sheeted lightning large and blueBlinked wide and pricked the quivering eyeball through.Then, scrambling to his feet, with downward headHe fought into the tempest as chance led.

He put his hands before his face. He stooped

Blind with his hair. The loud drops’ grim tattoo

Beat him to earth. Like summer grass he drooped,

Amazed, while sheeted lightning large and blue

Blinked wide and pricked the quivering eyeball through.

Then, scrambling to his feet, with downward head

He fought into the tempest as chance led.

3

3

The wood was mad. Soughing of branch and strainingWas there: drumming of water. Light was noneNor knowledge of himself. The trees’ complainingAnd his own throbbing heart seemed mixed in one,One sense of bitter loss and beauty undone;All else was blur and chaos and rain-steamAnd noise and the confusion of a dream.

The wood was mad. Soughing of branch and straining

Was there: drumming of water. Light was none

Nor knowledge of himself. The trees’ complaining

And his own throbbing heart seemed mixed in one,

One sense of bitter loss and beauty undone;

All else was blur and chaos and rain-steam

And noise and the confusion of a dream.

4

4

Aha!... Earth hates a miserable man:Against him even the clouds and winds conspire.Heaven’s voice smote Dymer’s ear-drum as he ran,Its red throat plagued the dark with corded fire—Barbed flame, coiled flame that ran like living wireCharged with disastrous current, left and rightAbout his path, hell-blue or staring white.

Aha!... Earth hates a miserable man:

Against him even the clouds and winds conspire.

Heaven’s voice smote Dymer’s ear-drum as he ran,

Its red throat plagued the dark with corded fire

—Barbed flame, coiled flame that ran like living wire

Charged with disastrous current, left and right

About his path, hell-blue or staring white.

5

5

Stab! Stab! Blast all at once. What’s he to fear?Look there—that cedar shrivelling in swift blightEven where he stood! And there—ah, that came near!Oh, if some shaft would break his soul outright,What ease so to unload and scatter quiteOn the darkness this wild beating in his skull,Too burning to endure, too tense and full.

Stab! Stab! Blast all at once. What’s he to fear?

Look there—that cedar shrivelling in swift blight

Even where he stood! And there—ah, that came near!

Oh, if some shaft would break his soul outright,

What ease so to unload and scatter quite

On the darkness this wild beating in his skull,

Too burning to endure, too tense and full.

6

6

All lost: and driven away: even her nameUnknown. O fool, to have wasted for a kissTime when they could have talked! An angry shameWas in him. He had worshipt earth, and this—The venomed clouds fire spitting from the abyss,This was the truth indeed, the world’s intentUnmasked and naked now, the thing it meant.

All lost: and driven away: even her name

Unknown. O fool, to have wasted for a kiss

Time when they could have talked! An angry shame

Was in him. He had worshipt earth, and this

—The venomed clouds fire spitting from the abyss,

This was the truth indeed, the world’s intent

Unmasked and naked now, the thing it meant.

7

7

The storm lay on the forest a great time—Wheeled in its thundery circuit, turned, returned.Still through the dead-leaved darkness, through the slimeOf standing pools and slots of clay storm-churnedWent Dymer. Still the knotty lightning burnedAlong black air. He heard the unbroken soundOf water rising in the hollower ground.

The storm lay on the forest a great time

—Wheeled in its thundery circuit, turned, returned.

Still through the dead-leaved darkness, through the slime

Of standing pools and slots of clay storm-churned

Went Dymer. Still the knotty lightning burned

Along black air. He heard the unbroken sound

Of water rising in the hollower ground.

8

8

He cursed it in his madness, flung it back,Sorrow as wild as young men’s sorrows are,Till, after midnight, when the tempest’s trackDrew off, between two clouds appeared one star.Then his mood changed. And this was heavier far,When bit by bit, rarer and still more rare,The weakening thunder ceased from the cleansed air;

He cursed it in his madness, flung it back,

Sorrow as wild as young men’s sorrows are,

Till, after midnight, when the tempest’s track

Drew off, between two clouds appeared one star.

Then his mood changed. And this was heavier far,

When bit by bit, rarer and still more rare,

The weakening thunder ceased from the cleansed air;

9

9

When leaves began to drip with dying rainAnd trees showed black against the glimmering sky,When the night-birds flapped out and called againAbove him: when the silence cool and shyCame stealing to its own, and streams ran byNow audible amid the rustling wood—Oh, then came the worst hour for flesh and blood.

When leaves began to drip with dying rain

And trees showed black against the glimmering sky,

When the night-birds flapped out and called again

Above him: when the silence cool and shy

Came stealing to its own, and streams ran by

Now audible amid the rustling wood

—Oh, then came the worst hour for flesh and blood.

10

10

It was no nightmare now with fiery streamToo horrible to last, able to blendItself and all things in one hurrying dream;It was the waking world that will not endBecause hearts break, that is not foe nor friend,Where sane and settled knowledge first appearsOf workday desolation, with no tears.

It was no nightmare now with fiery stream

Too horrible to last, able to blend

Itself and all things in one hurrying dream;

It was the waking world that will not end

Because hearts break, that is not foe nor friend,

Where sane and settled knowledge first appears

Of workday desolation, with no tears.

11

11

He halted then, foot-sore, weary to deathAnd heard his heart beating in solitude,When suddenly the sound of sharpest breathIndrawn with pain and the raw smell of bloodSurprised his sense. Near by to where he stoodCame a long whimpering moan—a broken word,A rustle of leaves where some live body stirred.

He halted then, foot-sore, weary to death

And heard his heart beating in solitude,

When suddenly the sound of sharpest breath

Indrawn with pain and the raw smell of blood

Surprised his sense. Near by to where he stood

Came a long whimpering moan—a broken word,

A rustle of leaves where some live body stirred.

12

12

He groped towards the sound. “What, brother, brother,Who groaned?”—“I’m hit. I’m finished. Let me be.”—“Put out your hand, then. Reach me. No, the other.”—“Don’t touch. Fool! Damn you. Leave me.”—“I can’t see.Where are you?” Then more groans. “They’ve done for me.I’ve no hands. Don’t come near me. No, but stay,Don’t leave me ... oh my God! Is it near day?”

He groped towards the sound. “What, brother, brother,

Who groaned?”—“I’m hit. I’m finished. Let me be.”

—“Put out your hand, then. Reach me. No, the other.”

—“Don’t touch. Fool! Damn you. Leave me.”—“I can’t see.

Where are you?” Then more groans. “They’ve done for me.

I’ve no hands. Don’t come near me. No, but stay,

Don’t leave me ... oh my God! Is it near day?”

13

13

—“Soon now, a little longer. Can you sleep?I’ll watch for you.”—“Sleep, is it? That’s ahead,But none till then. Listen, I’ve bled too deepTo last out till the morning. I’ll be deadWithin the hour—sleep then. I’ve heard it saidThey don’t mind at the last, but this is Hell.If I’d the strength—I have such things to tell.”

—“Soon now, a little longer. Can you sleep?

I’ll watch for you.”—“Sleep, is it? That’s ahead,

But none till then. Listen, I’ve bled too deep

To last out till the morning. I’ll be dead

Within the hour—sleep then. I’ve heard it said

They don’t mind at the last, but this is Hell.

If I’d the strength—I have such things to tell.”

14

14

All trembling in the dark and sweated overLike a man reared in peace, unused to pain,Sat Dymer near him in the lightless cover,Afraid to touch and shamefaced to refrain.Then bit by bit and often checked againWith agony the voice told on. (The placeWas dark, that neither saw the other’s face.)

All trembling in the dark and sweated over

Like a man reared in peace, unused to pain,

Sat Dymer near him in the lightless cover,

Afraid to touch and shamefaced to refrain.

Then bit by bit and often checked again

With agony the voice told on. (The place

Was dark, that neither saw the other’s face.)

15

15

“There is a City which men call in scornThe Perfect City—eastward of this wood—You’ve heard about the place. There I was born.I’m one of them, their work. Their sober mood,The ordered life, the laws, are in my blood—A life ... well, less than happy, something moreThan the red greed and lusts that went before.

“There is a City which men call in scorn

The Perfect City—eastward of this wood—

You’ve heard about the place. There I was born.

I’m one of them, their work. Their sober mood,

The ordered life, the laws, are in my blood

—A life ... well, less than happy, something more

Than the red greed and lusts that went before.

16

16

“All in one day one man and at one blowBrought ruin on us all. There was a boy—Blue eyes, large limbs, were all he had to show,You need no greater prophets to destroy.He seemed a man asleep. Sorrow and joyHad passed him by—the dreamiest, safest man,The most obscure, until this curse began.

“All in one day one man and at one blow

Brought ruin on us all. There was a boy

—Blue eyes, large limbs, were all he had to show,

You need no greater prophets to destroy.

He seemed a man asleep. Sorrow and joy

Had passed him by—the dreamiest, safest man,

The most obscure, until this curse began.

17

17

“Then—how or why it was, I cannot say,This Dymer, this fool baby pink-and-white,Went mad beneath his quiet face. One day,With nothing said, he rose and laughed outrightBefore his master: then, in all our sight,Even where we sat to watch, he struck him deadAnd screamed with laughter once again and fled.

“Then—how or why it was, I cannot say,

This Dymer, this fool baby pink-and-white,

Went mad beneath his quiet face. One day,

With nothing said, he rose and laughed outright

Before his master: then, in all our sight,

Even where we sat to watch, he struck him dead

And screamed with laughter once again and fled.

18

18

“Lord! how it all comes back. How still the place is,And he there lying dead ... only the soundOf a bluebottle buzzing ... sharpened facesStrained, gaping from the benches all around...The dead man hunched and quiet with no wound,And minute after minute terror creepingWith dreadful hopes to set the wild heart leaping.

“Lord! how it all comes back. How still the place is,

And he there lying dead ... only the sound

Of a bluebottle buzzing ... sharpened faces

Strained, gaping from the benches all around...

The dead man hunched and quiet with no wound,

And minute after minute terror creeping

With dreadful hopes to set the wild heart leaping.

19

19

“Then one by one at random (no word spoken),We slipt out to the sunlight and away.We felt the empty sense of something brokenAnd comfortless adventure all that day.Men loitered at their work and could not sayWhat trembled at their lips or what new lightWas in girls’ eyes. Yet we endured till night.

“Then one by one at random (no word spoken),

We slipt out to the sunlight and away.

We felt the empty sense of something broken

And comfortless adventure all that day.

Men loitered at their work and could not say

What trembled at their lips or what new light

Was in girls’ eyes. Yet we endured till night.

20

20

“Then ... I was lying wide awake in bed,Shot through with tremulous thought, lame hopes, and sweetDesire of reckless days—with burning head.And then there came a clamour from the street,Came nearer, nearer, nearer—stamping feetAnd screaming song and curses and a shoutOf ‘Who’s for Dymer, Dymer?—Up and out!’

“Then ... I was lying wide awake in bed,

Shot through with tremulous thought, lame hopes, and sweet

Desire of reckless days—with burning head.

And then there came a clamour from the street,

Came nearer, nearer, nearer—stamping feet

And screaming song and curses and a shout

Of ‘Who’s for Dymer, Dymer?—Up and out!’

21

21

“We looked out from our window. Thronging thereA thousand of our people, girls and men,Raved and reviled and shouted by the glareOf torches and of bonfire blaze. And thenCame tumult from the street beyond: again‘Dymer’ they cried. And farther off there cameThe sound of gun-fire and the gleam of flame.

“We looked out from our window. Thronging there

A thousand of our people, girls and men,

Raved and reviled and shouted by the glare

Of torches and of bonfire blaze. And then

Came tumult from the street beyond: again

‘Dymer’ they cried. And farther off there came

The sound of gun-fire and the gleam of flame.

22

22

“I rushed down with the rest. Oh, we were mad!After this, it’s all nightmare. The black skyBetween the housetops framed was all we hadTo tell us that the old world could not dieAnd that we were no gods. The flood ran highWhen first I came, but after was the worse,Oh, to recall...! On Dymer rest the curse!

“I rushed down with the rest. Oh, we were mad!

After this, it’s all nightmare. The black sky

Between the housetops framed was all we had

To tell us that the old world could not die

And that we were no gods. The flood ran high

When first I came, but after was the worse,

Oh, to recall...! On Dymer rest the curse!

23

23

“Our leader was a hunchback with red hair—Bran was his name. He had that kind of forceAbout him that will hold your eyes fast thereAs in ten miles of green one patch of gorseWill hold them—do you know? His lips were coarseBut his eyes like a prophet’s—seemed to fillThe whole face. And his tongue was never still.

“Our leader was a hunchback with red hair

—Bran was his name. He had that kind of force

About him that will hold your eyes fast there

As in ten miles of green one patch of gorse

Will hold them—do you know? His lips were coarse

But his eyes like a prophet’s—seemed to fill

The whole face. And his tongue was never still.

24

24

“He cried: ‘As Dymer broke, we’ll break the chain.The world is free. They taught you to be chasteAnd labour and bear orders and refrain.Refrain? From what? All’s good enough. We’ll tasteWhatever is. Life murmurs from the wasteBeneath the mind ... who made the reasoning partThe jailer of the wild gods in the heart?’

“He cried: ‘As Dymer broke, we’ll break the chain.

The world is free. They taught you to be chaste

And labour and bear orders and refrain.

Refrain? From what? All’s good enough. We’ll taste

Whatever is. Life murmurs from the waste

Beneath the mind ... who made the reasoning part

The jailer of the wild gods in the heart?’

25

25

“We were a ragtail crew—wild-haired, half dressed,All shouting, ‘Up, for Dymer! Up away!’Yet each one always watching all the restAnd looking to his back. And some were gayLike drunk men, some were cringing, pinched and greyWith terror dry on the lip. (The older onesHad had the sense enough to bring their guns.)

“We were a ragtail crew—wild-haired, half dressed,

All shouting, ‘Up, for Dymer! Up away!’

Yet each one always watching all the rest

And looking to his back. And some were gay

Like drunk men, some were cringing, pinched and grey

With terror dry on the lip. (The older ones

Had had the sense enough to bring their guns.)

26

26

“The wave where I was swallowed swelled and broke,After long surge, into the open square.And here there was more light: new clamour woke.Here first I heard the bullets sting the airAnd went hot round the heart. Our lords were thereIn barricade with all their loyal men.For every one man loyal Bran led ten.

“The wave where I was swallowed swelled and broke,

After long surge, into the open square.

And here there was more light: new clamour woke.

Here first I heard the bullets sting the air

And went hot round the heart. Our lords were there

In barricade with all their loyal men.

For every one man loyal Bran led ten.

27

27

“Then charge and cheer and bubbling sobs of death,We hovered on their front. Like swarming beesTheir spraying bullets came—no time for breath.I saw men’s stomachs fall out on their knees;And shouting faces, while they shouted, freezeInto black, bony masks. Before we knewWe’re into them.... ‘Swine!’—‘Die, then’—‘That’s for you.’

“Then charge and cheer and bubbling sobs of death,

We hovered on their front. Like swarming bees

Their spraying bullets came—no time for breath.

I saw men’s stomachs fall out on their knees;

And shouting faces, while they shouted, freeze

Into black, bony masks. Before we knew

We’re into them.... ‘Swine!’—‘Die, then’—‘That’s for you.’

28

28

“The next that I remember was a lullAnd sated pause. I saw an old, old manLying before my feet with shattered skullAnd both my arms dripped red. And then came BranAnd at his heels a hundred murderers ran,With prisoners now, clamouring to take and try themAnd burn them, wedge their nails up, crucify them.

“The next that I remember was a lull

And sated pause. I saw an old, old man

Lying before my feet with shattered skull

And both my arms dripped red. And then came Bran

And at his heels a hundred murderers ran,

With prisoners now, clamouring to take and try them

And burn them, wedge their nails up, crucify them.

29

29

“God!... Once the lying spirit of a causeWith maddening words dethrones the mind of men,They’re past the reach of prayer. The eternal lawsHate them. Their eyes will not come clean again,But doom and strong delusion drive them thenWithout ruth, without rest ... the iron laughterOf the immortal mouths goes hooting after.

“God!... Once the lying spirit of a cause

With maddening words dethrones the mind of men,

They’re past the reach of prayer. The eternal laws

Hate them. Their eyes will not come clean again,

But doom and strong delusion drive them then

Without ruth, without rest ... the iron laughter

Of the immortal mouths goes hooting after.

30

30

“And we had firebrands too. Tower after towerFell sheathed in thundering flame. The street was likeA furnace mouth. We had them in our power!Then was the time to mock them and to strike,To flay men and spit women on the pike,Bidding them dance. Wherever the most shameWas done the doer called on Dymer’s name.

“And we had firebrands too. Tower after tower

Fell sheathed in thundering flame. The street was like

A furnace mouth. We had them in our power!

Then was the time to mock them and to strike,

To flay men and spit women on the pike,

Bidding them dance. Wherever the most shame

Was done the doer called on Dymer’s name.

31

31

“Faces of men in torture ... from my mindThey will not go away. The East lay stillIn darkness when we left the town behindFlaming to light the fields. We’d had our will:We sang, ‘Oh, we will make the frost distilFrom Time’s grey forehead into living dewAnd break whatever has been and build new.’

“Faces of men in torture ... from my mind

They will not go away. The East lay still

In darkness when we left the town behind

Flaming to light the fields. We’d had our will:

We sang, ‘Oh, we will make the frost distil

From Time’s grey forehead into living dew

And break whatever has been and build new.’

32

32

“Day found us on the border of this wood,Blear-eyed and pale. Then the most part beganTo murmur and to lag, crying for foodAnd shelter. But we dared not answer Bran.Wherever in the ranks the murmur ranHe’d find it—‘You, there, whispering. Up, you sneak,Reactionary, eh? Come out and speak.’

“Day found us on the border of this wood,

Blear-eyed and pale. Then the most part began

To murmur and to lag, crying for food

And shelter. But we dared not answer Bran.

Wherever in the ranks the murmur ran

He’d find it—‘You, there, whispering. Up, you sneak,

Reactionary, eh? Come out and speak.’

33

33

“Then there’d be shrieks, a pistol shot, a cry,And someone down. I was the third he caught.The others pushed me out beneath his eye,Saying, ‘He’s here; here, Captain.’ Who’d have thought,My old friends? But I know now. I’ve been taught ...They cut away my two hands and my feetAnd laughed and left me for the birds to eat.

“Then there’d be shrieks, a pistol shot, a cry,

And someone down. I was the third he caught.

The others pushed me out beneath his eye,

Saying, ‘He’s here; here, Captain.’ Who’d have thought,

My old friends? But I know now. I’ve been taught ...

They cut away my two hands and my feet

And laughed and left me for the birds to eat.

34

34

“Oh, God’s name! If I had my hands againAnd Dymer here ... it would not be my bloodI am stronger now than he is, old with pain,One grip would make him mine. But it’s no good,I’m dying fast. Look, Stranger, where the woodGrows lighter. It’s the morning. Stranger dear,Don’t leave me. Talk a little while. Come near.”

“Oh, God’s name! If I had my hands again

And Dymer here ... it would not be my blood

I am stronger now than he is, old with pain,

One grip would make him mine. But it’s no good,

I’m dying fast. Look, Stranger, where the wood

Grows lighter. It’s the morning. Stranger dear,

Don’t leave me. Talk a little while. Come near.”

35

35

But Dymer, sitting hunched with knee to chin,Close to the dying man, answered no word.His face was stone. There was no meaning inHis wakeful eyes. Sometimes the other stirredAnd fretted, near his death; and Dymer heard,Yet sat like one that neither hears nor sees.And the cold east whitened beyond the trees.

But Dymer, sitting hunched with knee to chin,

Close to the dying man, answered no word.

His face was stone. There was no meaning in

His wakeful eyes. Sometimes the other stirred

And fretted, near his death; and Dymer heard,

Yet sat like one that neither hears nor sees.

And the cold east whitened beyond the trees.

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