Challenge Part 2

DOWN-HILL ON A BICYCLE

The rolling earth stops As I climb to the summit, Then like a plummet It suddenly drops...

Down, down I go-- Past rippling acres; Hillsides like breakers Over me flow.

Wildly alive I hail the green s.h.i.+mmer, Fresh as a swimmer After the dive.

Like banners unfurled The skies dip and flourish-- The keen breezes nourish, While the bright world

Is a ribbon unrolled With a border of gra.s.ses; And tansies are ma.s.ses And splotches of gold.

Still I whirl on-- Startled, a sparrow Darts from the yarrow, Flash--and is gone...

Faster the gleams Die as they dazzle-- And roadsides of basil Turn to pink streams.

Sharp as a knife Is each perfume and color.

To feel nothing duller-- G.o.d, that were Life!

MIDNIGHT--BY THE OPEN WINDOW

How rapt the sleeping stillness of the night-- Incomparably close and vast... One might Hear the tense silence in the little street Reaching to heaven, where it swells and breaks Into moon-music and star-song that makes My senses bend and sway, as waving wheat Trembles before the wind's majestic feet; Trembles with happy fear and numb delight.

How sharp the silence... like a sword to smite Brittle security and iron aches; A soundless and imperative blast that wakes Undreamed of powers, terrible and sweet...

While G.o.d comes down, roused to the jubilant fight; Roused from the sleepy comfort of His seat.

THE WINE OF NIGHT

Come, drink the mystic wine of Night, Br.i.m.m.i.n.g with silence and the stars, While earth, bathed in this holy light, Is seen without its scars.

Drink in the daring and the dews, The calm winds and the restless gleam-- This is the draught that Beauty brews; Drink--it is the Dream.

Drink, oh my soul, and do not yield-- These solitudes, this wild-rose air, Shall strengthen thee, shall be thy s.h.i.+eld, Against a world's despair.

Oh, quaff this stirrup-cup of stars, Trembling with hope and high desire-- Then back into the hopeless wars With faith and fire!

INTERLUDES

_To My Wife_

_INVOCATION_

_Listen, my lute, I would turn from your militant measures.

Well have you answered the touch of intransigent fingers; Wildly your strings have vibrated--but have you forgotten How to make love-songs?_

_Lute, you are hot to the hand; you are tense and exultant.

Cease crying out--let me rest from the din and the battle.

Life is not only a summoning shout and a struggle, A blow and a silence._

_Is there not vigorous peace after vigorous onslaught?

Beauty's a challenge as fierce and as stirring as conflict...

Look--how she runs through the tremulous twilight to meet me-- Do you remember?_

_See--it is night and she turns to my arms of a sudden; Soft as a mother and wild with the fires of April-- Bashful and bold, with her pa.s.sionate hair all about her; Lovely and lavish._

_Lute, it was she who awoke and impelled us to singing-- Ah, those first lyrics, impulsive and feeble and earnest-- She who aroused us and soothed us--our pa.s.sion, our pillow-- Dare you forget her!_

_Only remember 'tis she keeps me rested and restless; Only remember my heart, like a fate in strong breezes.

Leaps at the thought of her voice and her slow, searching kisses, Stabbing and healing._

"FEUERZAUBER"

I never knew the earth had so much gold-- The fields run over with it, and this hill h.o.a.ry and old, Is young with buoyant blooms that flame and thrill.

Such golden fires, such yellows--lo, how good This spendthrift world, and what a lavish G.o.d-- This fringe of wood, Blazing with b.u.t.tercup and goldenrod.

You too, beloved, are changed. Again I see Your face grow mystical, as on that night You turned to me, And all the trembling world--and you--were white.

Aye, you are touched; your singing lips grow dumb; The fields absorb you, color you entire...

And you become A G.o.ddess standing in a world of fire!

SUNDAY NIGHT

Tossing, throughout this tense and nervous night Sleepless I drowse. My soul, for lack of rest, Sinks like a bird, that after flight on flight Misses the shelter of its well-loved nest.

So would I gain your side and seek, my love, The comfortable heaven of your breast.

Once more to lie beside the window seat, And see, far off, the ribboned river-lights, The yellow gas-lamps in the dusky street-- And pressing close, from proud and alien heights, The n.o.ble skies and the inviolate stars Surround and bless us these autumnal nights.

No words--the silence and your breathless name Are all that's in the world; and faint and fair The distant church-bells solemnly proclaim To all the meek and sabbath-scented air...

I take you in my arms ... and I awake Groping, with restless anger, for a prayer.