Byzantium

The unpurged images of day recedes;
The Emperor's drunken soldiery are abed;
Night resonance recedes, night-walkers' song
After great cathedral gong;
A starlit or a moonlit dome disdains
All that man is,
All mere complexities,
The fury and the mire of human veins.

Before me floats an image, man or shade,
Shade more than man, more image than a shade;
For Hades' bobbin bound in mummy-cloth
May unwind the winding path;
A mouth that has no moisture and no breath
Breathless mouths may summon;
I hail the superhuman;
I call it death-in-life and life-in-death.

Miracle, bird or golden handiwork,
More miracle than bird or handiwork,
Planted on the star-lit golden bough,
Can like the cocks of Hades crow,
Or, by the moon embittered, scorn aloud
In glory of changeless metal
Common bird or petal
And all complexities of mire or blood.

At midnight on the Emperor's pavement flit
Flames that no faggot feeds, nor steel has lit,
Nor storm disturbs, flames begotten of flame,
Where blood-begotten spirits come
And all complexities of fury leave,
Dying into a dance,
An agony of trance,
An agony of flame that cannot singe a sleeve.

Astraddle on the dolphin's mire and blood,
Spirit after spirit! The smithies break the flood,
The golden smithies of the Emperor!
Marbles of the dancing floor
Break bitter furies of complexity,
Those images that yet
Fresh images beget,
That dolphin-torn, that gong-tormented sea.

Anatomy of a Poet

Non sum qualis eram bonae sub regano Cynarae

Last night, ah, yesternight, betwixt her lips and mine
There fell thy shadow, Cynara! thy breath was shed
Upon my soul between the kisses and the wine;
And I was desolate and sick of an old passion,
Yea, I was desolate and bowed my head:
I have been faithful to thee, Cynara! in my fashion.

All night upon mine heart I felt her warm heart beat,
Night-long within mine arms in love and asleep she lay;
Surely the kisses of her bought red mouth were sweet;
But I was desolate and sick of an old passion,
When I awoke and found the dawn was gray:
I have been faithful to thee, Cynara! in my fashion.

I have forgot much, Cynara! gone with the wind,
Flung roses, roses riotously with the throng,
Dancing, to put thy pale, lost lilies out of the mind;
But I was desolate and sick of an old passion,
Yea, all the time, because the dance was long:
I have been faithful to thee, Cynara! in my fashion.

I cried for madder music and for stronger wine,
But when the feast is finished and the lamps expire,
Then falls thy shadow, Cynara! the night is thine;
And I am desolate and sick of an old passion,
Yea hungry for the lips of my desire:
I have been faithful to thee, Cynara! in my fashion.

In Perpetuum

This is the tale
of the child left behind
Of a cheating killing kind
there is no crime
I claim the right
to pity and to shame
to reason and to gain
There will be time

The years from you to me
For us the cherry bleeds
This passionate debate
The truth dictates our fate
We search forever more
We search forever more

Oblivion confides
The greater plan resides
We stammer as we lead
Dumfound, the final deed
The distance and the night
Transgress the morning light
Discharge the guilt we feel
Confessing what is real

The years from you to me
For us the cherry bleeds
This passionate debate
The truth dictates our fate
We search forever more
We search forever more

The Seventh Seal

Anybody see a knight pass this way?
I saw him playing chess with Death yesterday
His crusade was a search - for God and their same
It's been a long way to carry on

Anybody hear of plague in this town?
The town I've left behind was burned to the ground
A young girl on a stake, her face framed in flames
Cried "I'm not a witch - God knows my name"

The knight he watched with fear - he needed to know
He ran where he might feel Gods breath
And in the misty church, he knelt to confess
The face within the booth was Mr Death

My life's a vain pursuit - of meaningless miles
Why can't God touch me with a sign?
"Perhaps there's no-one there" answered the booth
And Death hid within his cloak and smiled

This morning I played chess with Death said the Knight
We played that he might grant me time
My bishop and my knights will shatter his flanks
And still I might feel God's heart in mine

And through confessions grill - Death's laughter was heard
The Knight cried "No, you've cheated me"
But still I find a way - we'll meet once again
And once again continue to play

They met within the woods - the knight, his squire and friends
And Death said "Now the game shall end&quit;
The final move was made - the knight hung his head
And said "You've won - I have nothing left to play"

The minstrel filled with visions - sang to his love
To look against the stormy sky
The knight, his squire and friends - their hands held as one
Silently danced towards the dawn

His hourglass in his hands - his scythe by his side
The master Death, he leads them on
The rain will wash away - the tears from their faces
And as the thunder cracked - they were gone

The Harlot's House

We caught the tread of dancing feet,
We loitered down the moonlit street,
And stopped beneath the harlot's house.

Inside, above the din and fray,
We heard the loud musicians play
The "Treues Liebes Herz" of Strauss.

Like strange mechanical grotesques,
Making fantastic arabesques,
The shadows raced across the blind.

We watched the ghostly dancers spin
To sound of horn and violin,
Like black leaves wheeling in the wind.

Like wire-pulled automatons,
Slim silhouetted skeletons
Went sidling through the slow quadrille.

They took each other by the hand,
And danced a stately saraband;
Their laughter echoed thin and shrill.

Sometimes a clockwork puppet pressed
A phantom lover to her breast,
Sometimes they seemed to try to sing.

Sometimes a horrible marionette
Came out, and smoked its cigarette
Upon the steps like a living thing.

Then turning to my love, I said,
"The dead are dancing with the dead,
The dust is whirling with the dust."

But she - she heard the violin,
And left my side, and entered in:
Love passed into the house of lust.

Then suddenly the tune went false,
The dancers wearied of the waltz,
The shadows ceased to wheel and whirl.

And down the long and silent street,
The dawn, with silver-sandalled feet,
Crept like a frightened girl.

QUI MAL

Comme, comme j'ai dit une fois
Long, c'est le jour sans toi 

Besoins s'enflament 
Mes sentiments 
Je me rťclame 

Passť s'est fait 
Silence m'enforce 
Je ne rťpens 
Qui mal

Doux, chaque battement du coeur 
Fortes, les frissons du peur 

J'ai mal du coeur 
Et mal d'esprit 
Ma vie s'en va 

La voix emue 
Perdue, ťchue 
Et je denoue 
Sans moi 

GROUNDLOOP

Fading memories I recall
Found my heart, but lost my soul
In this circle running round
You're my loop - gone to ground

I sleep awake, I find no rest
Made the grade, but failed the test
I feel my fate with every sound
Loop and edit in surround

Resolution - it's a game
You're the fault but I'm to blame
I see directions everywhere
No single path will take me there

We made a start and there's no end
Beloved foe, my only friend
Hit the ground - but never fall
Break the circuit, reinstall

So familiar, nothing's changed

Once again, it's all the same

You're very close, but not so near

Lost forever - reappear

Repetition is the law
We've seen it all before
You're very close, but not so near
I stop talking - you don't hear

ALLEGORY

Ah, my beloved, fill the Cup that clears
Today of past regrets and future Fears-
Tomorrow? - Why, Tomorrow I may be
Myself with Yesterday's Seven Thousand Years.

Lo! some we loved, the loveliest and best
That Time and Fate of all their Vintage prest,
Have drunk their Cup a Round or two before,
And one by one crept silently to Rest.

And we,that now make merry in the Room
They left, and Summer dresses in new Bloom,
Ourselves must we beneath the Couch of Earth
Descend, ourselves to make a Couch-for whom?

Ah.make the most of what we yet may spend,
Before we too into the dust descend;
Dust into Dust, and under Dust, to lie,
Sans Wine, sans Song, sans Singer, and-sans End!

Ah, fill the Cup:-what boots it to repeat
How Time is slipping underneath our Feet:
Unborn Tomorrow, and dead Yesterday
Why fret about them if Today be sweet!

Wilderness
Paradise

HYMN NOIR

Seeing is believing
But I don't know what I'm feeling
Confusion breeds delusion
My emotions are deceiving
This is my Hymn Noir
My sole desire
In my ivory tower
Hymn Noir Hymn Noir

This is my Hymn Noir
A lost desire
In the final hour
Hymn Noir Hymn Noir
This is my Hymn Noir
Hymn Noir Hymn Noir

Hymn Noir Hymn Noir

When the taste turns sour
In the final hour
A lost desire
Hymn Noir Hymn Noir

There's life without living
Conflicting truth and lies
Forgiven and Forgiving
Seeing is believing
But I don't know what I'm feeling
Confusion breeds delusion
My emotions are deceiving
This is my Hymn Noir
My sole desire
In my ivory tower
Hymn Noir Hymn Noir
A lost desire

This is my Hymn Noir
When the taste turns sour
In the final hour
Hymn Noir Hymn Noir
This is my Hymn Noir
Hymn Noir Hymn Noir
There's life without living
Conflicting truth and lies
Forgiven and Forgiving

This is my Hymn Noir
This is my Hymn Noir
Hymn Noir Hymn Noir
This is my Hymn Noir

Hymn Noir Hymn Noir

CHRONICLE

Me gustaria encontrar el peligro
Denudar la vida, en decurso

Hacer lo mismo no me va
Yo busco ya differencia

No me preguntes otra vez
Diciendo no, da siempre sed

Me gustaria encontrar el peligro
Denudar la vida, en decurso

Exponeme a la tentacion!
La comerť sin reflexion

No me preguntes otra vez
Diciendo no, da siempre sed