Poems by Alan Seeger Part 9

Under the glare and noise and heat the galaxy of dancing whirls, Smokers, with covered heads, and girls dressed in the costume of the street.

From tables packed around the wall the crowds that drink and frolic there Spin serpentines into the air far out over the reeking hall,

That, settling where the coils unroll, tangle with pink and green and blue The crowds that rag to "Hitchy-koo" and boston to the "Barcarole". . . .

Here Mimi ventures, at fifteen, to make her debut in romance, And join her sisters in the dance and see the life that they have seen.

Her hair, a tight hat just allows to brush beneath the narrow brim, Docked, in the model's present whim, 'frise' and banged above the brows.

Uncorseted, her clinging dress with every step and turn betrays, In pretty and provoking ways her adolescent loveliness,

As guiding Gaby or Lucile she dances, emulating them In each disturbing stratagem and each lascivious appeal.

Each turn a challenge, every pose an invitation to compete, Along the maze of whirling feet the grave-eyed little wanton goes,

And, flaunting all the hue that lies in childish cheeks and nubile waist, She pa.s.ses, charmingly unchaste, illumining ign.o.ble eyes. . . .

But now the blood from every heart leaps madder through abounding veins As first the fascinating strains of "El Irresistible" start.

Caught in the spell of pulsing sound, impatient elbows lift and yield The scented softnesses they s.h.i.+eld to arms that catch and close them round,

Surrender, swift to be possessed, the silken supple forms beneath To all the bliss the measures breathe and all the madness they suggest.

Crowds congregate and make a ring. Four deep they stand and strain to see The tango in its ecstasy of glowing lives that clasp and cling.

Lithe limbs relaxed, exalted eyes fastened on vacancy, they seem To float upon the perfumed stream of some voluptuous Paradise,

Or, rapt in some Arabian Night, to rock there, cradled and subdued, In a luxurious la.s.situde of rhythm and sensual delight.

And only when the measures cease and terminate the flowing dance They waken from their magic trance and join the cries that clamor "Bis!" . . .

Midnight adjourns the festival. The couples climb the crowded stair, And out into the warm night air go singing fragments of the ball.

Close-folded in desire they pa.s.s, or stop to drink and talk awhile In the cafes along the mile from Bullier's back to Montparna.s.se:

The "Closerie" or "La Rotonde", where smoking, under lamplit trees, Sit Art's enamored devotees, chatting across their 'brune' and 'blonde'. . . .

Make one of them and come to know sweet Paris--not as many do, Seeing but the folly of the few, the froth, the tinsel, and the show --

But taking some white proffered hand that from Earth's barren every day Can lead you by the shortest way into Love's florid fairyland.

And that divine enchanted life that lurks under Life's common guise -- That city of romance that lies within the City's toil and strife --

Shall, knocking, open to your hands, for Love is all its golden key, And one's name murmured tenderly the only magic it demands.

And when all else is gray and void in the vast gulf of memory, Green islands of delight shall be all blessed moments so enjoyed:

When vaulted with the city skies, on its cathedral floors you stood, And, priest of a bright brotherhood, performed the mystic sacrifice,

At Love's high altar fit to stand, with fire and incense aureoled, The celebrant in cloth of gold with Spring and Youth on either hand.

III

Choral Song

Have ye gazed on its grandeur Or stood where it stands With opal and amber Adorning the lands, And orcharded domes Of the hue of all flowers?

Sweet melody roams Through its blossoming bowers, Sweet bells usher in from its belfries the train of the honey-sweet hour.

A city resplendent, Fulfilled of good things, On its ramparts are pendent The bucklers of kings.

Broad banners unfurled Are afloat in its air.

The lords of the world Look for harborage there.

None finds save he comes as a bridegroom, having roses and vine in his hair.

'Tis the city of Lovers, There many paths meet.

Blessed he above others, With faltering feet, Who past its proud spires Intends not nor hears The noise of its lyres Grow faint in his ears!

Men reach it through portals of triumph, but leave through a postern of tears.

It was thither, ambitious, We came for Youth's right, When our lips yearned for kisses As moths for the light, When our souls cried for Love As for life-giving rain Wan leaves of the grove, Withered gra.s.s of the plain, And our flesh ached for Love-flesh beside it with bitter, intolerable pain.

Under arbor and trellis, Full of flutes, full of flowers, What mad fortunes befell us, What glad orgies were ours!

In the days of our youth, In our festal attire, When the sweet flesh was smooth, When the swift blood was fire, And all Earth paid in orange and purple to pavilion the bed of Desire!

The Sultan's Palace

My spirit only lived to look on Beauty's face, As only when they clasp the arms seem served aright; As in their flesh inheres the impulse to embrace, To gaze on Loveliness was my soul's appet.i.te.

I have roamed far in search; white road and plunging bow Were keys in the blue doors where my desire was set; Obedient to their lure, my lips and laughing brow The hill-showers and the spray of many seas have wet.

Hot are enamored hands, the fragrant zone unbound, To leave no dear delight unfelt, unfondled o'er, The will possessed my heart to girdle Earth around With their insatiate need to wonder and adore.

The flowers in the fields, the surf upon the sands, The sunset and the clouds it turned to blood and wine, Were shreds of the thin veil behind whose beaded strands A radiant visage rose, serene, august, divine.

A noise of summer wind astir in starlit trees, A song where sensual love's delirium rose and fell, Were rites that moved my soul more than the devotee's When from the blazing choir rings out the altar bell.

I woke amid the pomp of a proud palace; writ In tinted arabesque on walls that gems o'erlay, The names of caliphs were who once held court in it, Their baths and bowers were mine to dwell in for a day.

Their robes and rings were mine to draw from s.h.i.+mmering trays -- Brocades and broidered silks, topaz and tourmaline -- Their turban-cloths to wind in proud capricious ways, And fasten plumes and pearls and pendent sapphires in.

I rose; far music drew my steps in fond pursuit Down tessellated floors and towering peristyles: Through groves of colonnades fair lamps were blus.h.i.+ng fruit, On seas of green mosaic soft rugs were flowery isles.

And there were verdurous courts that scalloped arches wreathed, Where fountains plashed in bowls of lapis lazuli.