TWO POEMS
While his diary is read by sneering
Beggars and, far off, he notices
A lean horror flapping and hopping
Towards him with inhuman swiftness:
Learn from your dreams what you lack,
For as your fears are, so must you hope.
The Way of Justice is a tightrope
Where no prince is safe for one instant
Unless he trust his embarrassment,
As in his left ear the siren sings
Meltingly of water and a night
Where all flesh had peace, and on his right
The efreet offers a brilliant void
Where his mind could be perfectly clear
And all his limitations destroyed:
Many young princes soon disappear
To join all the unjust kings.
So,
if you prosper, suspect those bright
Mornings when you whistle with a light
Heart. You are loved; you have never seen
The harbour so still, the park so green,
So many well.fed pigeons upon
Cupolas and triumphant arches,
So many stags and slender ladies
Beside the canals. Remember when
Your climate seems a permanent home
For marvellous creatures and great men,
What griefs and convulsions startled Rome,
Ecbatana, BabyIon;
How narrow the space, how slight ·the chance
For civil pattern and importance,
Between the watery vagueness and
The triviality of the sand,
How soon the lively trip is·over
From loose craving to sharp aversion,
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