1.24.2021

this is not vanity

What thou lovest well remains, 
                                 the rest is dross 
What thou lov’st well shall not be reft from thee 
What thou lov’st well is thy true heritage 
Whose world, or mine or theirs 
                                                                             or is it of none? 

First came the seen, then thus the palpable 
                    Elysium, though it were in the halls of hell, 
What thou lovest well is thy true heritage 
What thou lov’st well shall not be reft from thee 

The ant’s a centaur in his dragon world. 
Pull down thy vanity, it is not man 
Made courage, or made order, or made grace, 
                     Pull down thy vanity, I say pull down. 
Learn of the green world what can be thy place 
In scaled invention or true artistry, 
Pull down thy vanity, 
                                                                             Paquin pull down! 
The green casque has outdone your elegance. 

“Master thyself, then others shall thee beare” 
                     Pull down thy vanity 
Thou art a beaten dog beneath the hail, 
A swollen magpie in a fitful sun, 
Half black half white 
Nor knowst’ou wing from tail 
Pull down thy vanity 
                                                How mean thy hates 
Fostered in falsity, 
                                                Pull down thy vanity, 
Rathe to destroy, niggard in charity, 
Pull down thy vanity, 
                                                I say pull down. 
 
But to have done instead of not doing 
                                                this is not vanity 
To have, with decency, knocked 
That a Blunt should open 
                             To have gathered from the air a live 
tradition 
or from a fine old eye the unconquered flame 
This is not vanity. 
                 Here error is all in the not done, 
all in the diffidence that faltered . . . 

No comments:

Post a Comment