HYMNS 8

Helen of Troy

[The Sorrow of Love]

from WB Yeats

The fighting of the sparrows in the eaves

The full bright moon & the star-laden sky,

And the loud refrain of the ever-sighing leaves,

Kept hidden love’s old & weary cry.

And then you came with those red, red mournful lips

And with you came the whole world of tears

And all the trouble of her labouring ships

And all the trouble of her million years.

And so the sparrows go on warring in their eaves

The curd-pale moon, the white stars in the sky,

And the loud lament of the unquiet leaves,

Are shaken with your image & your eyes…

_____________________________________________________________________________

The Dividing Line

- for V. -

A river runs along the highway where a bridge

spans the space at the water’s deepest bend,

headlights flicker off phantom cars

driven near the edge

there’s a rural town out there

known only as journey’s end

behind the wheel my heart is turning

fixed on empty yet un-

limitless it seems

my mind keeps me awake

focused on the memory of

our long repressed

but un-

forgotten

dreams

stars

are

phosphorescent

diamond

fires

deep womb

purple iridescent

cradle of the night

neon-blue edged

silhouetting clouds

covering

their faint yet mesmer-

izing

light

Are you sleeping in your gold embroidered gown

The moon flies up, blindfolds slide down

A sleepwalker wanders sightless into town

Searching for the love he never found

While a faceless mist drags him to the ground

Binds him with its ghastly clown white kiss,

As if on cue the self-reproaching voices hiss:

she wanted kids

you never did

she wanted yours

you drove her next to him

crashed across the concrete line

along the ravine where demons hide

a forlorn spot all fallen angels find

breathless

gasping

mirror pools dark reflecting

relentless grasping spectral branching

splintered mementos

last taste

bitter bliss

it wasn’t your fault

that I must be constitutionally

incapable

sustaining any form of

true or

lasting

Once or twice a strange car passes

but mostly I’m alone on this road so long

I hear the sound water softly splashing

mingled with the midnight murmur

gentle creatures solo singing

on moonlit

moss green brown

& broken logs

Are you dancing on the stream

or do you feel you’re drowning

just

me?

I think I’m close to your hometown

but then I realize we’ve lost our feeling

any mutual destiny

our roadmap suggests a litany

what love can never be

a testament to

so many solitary cold

& distinctly

different

dreams

Now the bridge looms before me,

like the shadow of a mountain,

a haunting from the past—

should I even try to cross its vastness

god knows

I can’t

turn around

won’t

back

I’m close to your hometown

but I stop because I see

the two called us

an optimistic

direction

that we can never be

are you dancing in your dreams

or do you feel you’re

drowning

just

me?

JEFarrow

1983

_____________________________________________________________________________

Lady Mary

She stood alone in a garden of stone

cultivating a lifelong memory of loss

hoping for a knight to champion her cause

to save her from losing even more than she missed

a noble man to the rescue with a rose or a kiss—

waiting for a prince who didn’t exist.

Then one day sometime early in May

he came to the garden & asked to remain

he wasn’t a knight or some prince in a play

he offered no rubies or idols of clay

the castle he built he made with his hands

he was the future, here was her man.

He brought the delight of a rose without thorns

garlands of Sunflowers to frame the front door

he called her his Lady as he knelt to the floor

overcome by his love to do or say any more

she looked into his eyes, to the one now adored,

then her heart whispered softly,

thank you, my Lord.

JEFarrow

Year of OurSELF 2007

poppies

I tippy-toe across your dream each night

so as not to wake you

asleep in your summer

a garland of flowers

yellow & white around your waist

while I walk these paths of ice

ice my breasts & strings of ice my hair

my hands two hooks of steel

ice nose, snow eyes

frozen open mouth

flakes of snow your bridal veil

I walk down your snow-white path

garlands of poppies

spilling from

heart

Buffy Sainte-Marie

Illuminations

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The Priest

The priest sat in the airport bar

He was wearing his father’s tie

He looked into my eyes so far

Whenever the words ran dry

Behind the lash and the circles blue

He looked as only a priest can, thru

And his eyes said me and his eyes said you

And my eyes said, let us try

He said you wouldn’t like it here

It’s no place you should share

The roof is ripped with hurricanes

And the room is always bare

I need the wind and I seek the cold

He reached past the wine for my hand to hold

And he saw me young and he saw me old

And he saw me sitting there.

Then he took his contradictions out

And he splashed them on my brow

So which words was I then to doubt

In choosing what to vow

Should I choose them all

Should I make them mine

The sermons, the hymns, and the valentines

He asked for truth and he asked for time

And he asked for only now.

Now the trials are trumpet scored

Oh will we past the test

Or just as one loves more and more

Will one love less and less

Oh come let’s run from this ring we’re in

Where the christians clap and the germans grin

Crying let them lose, saying let them win

Oh make them both confess.

Joni Mitchell

Ladies of the Canyon

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Adventures of the Incredible Mr. Sandman

B. Mauritz

Once there was a little boy

All he wanted to be was a man

With a heart full of I love you

And a mind full of I can

But as shifted sand

This man who can

Growing up can be

This slowly starting pain

And it’ll hurt from the tips of your toes

To the very ends of your brain

Years did pass and I did grow

Many were the new thoughts I did know

Walking in the new fallen snow

Where the willow tree hung her hair low

That man of sand

He took my hand

You know there will be just a few

That I will really sing this song to

But as long as there’s a you

I come through, and I love you.

Tam Lin

[traditional]

I forbid you maidens all that wear gold in your hair
Travel not to Carter Hall for young Tam Lin is there
None that go by Carter Hall but they leave him a pledge

Either their mantel of green or else their maidenhead

Janet tied her kirtle green a bit above her knee
And she's gone to Carter Hall as fast as go can she

She had just pulled a single rose, she’d taken only one
When suddenly Tam Lin appeared to protest what she had done

“Why do you pluck the reddest rose & harm the living tree?

And why come you to Carter Hall without asking leave of me?”

“I have the right to come & go, it is mine by birth

So I will go to Carter Hall & not ask your leave first”

He put his arm around her waist & brought her to the ground

And what they did next no one could say

The leaves were all around

Then they did fall in slumber deep

And when she did awake

Tam Lin had faded quiet away

As foam upon the lake

Her father came from out his house to roam the wood so wild

When he saw the leaves fall from her hair, he spoke both meek & mild
"Oh, alas, my daughter dear, I think you go with child"
"Well, if that be so," young Janet said, "myself shall bear the blame

There's not a knight in all your hall shall give the baby's name"

Janet tied her kirtle green a bit above her knee
And she's gone to Carter Hall as fast as go can she

"Oh, tell to me, Tam Lin," she said, "why came you here to dwell?"
"The Queen of Faeries caught me when from my horse I fell

The faery land is a pleasant place, but there’s a darker side as well

At the end of every seven years they pay a tithe to hell

But tonight is Halloween and the faery folk do ride
You must wait for me at Miller’s Cross

Please come for me tonight

First let pass the horses black, let pass the horses brown
Then quickly run to the ghost white steed and pull the rider down
Take hold of me, my only love, hold me fast to you
Promise you won’t let me go no matter what they do

For they will turn me in your arms into a newt or snake
But hold me tight and fear not, all for our baby’s sake

And they will turn me in your arms into a naked knight
But cloak me in your mantle and keep me out of sight

And they will turn me in your arms into a lion bold
But clutch me tight and never fear, it is our child you hold
When doing this of brave heart be as midnight tolls the hour

Do all this and you will save both baby and the father”

At the midnight tolling bell, Janet set young Tam Lin free
But then appeared the Faery Queen and an angry Queen was she
"Oh, had I known, Tam Lin," she said,

"how false your heart would be,
I would have looked into thine eyes

& changed thee to a tree"

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