The Timid Future
Wind in the eaves of the old house, wind over Russia
And the English coast, wind over the forelands
Of Europe, over the beaches of Long Island,
Autumnal wind, wailing the world sorrow,
With demon voices thronged, lewd voices
Crying out of the timid future,
Where now is paradise, the hope foresworn,
That could have been, had the heart stretched to hold it?
Where now lost Eden? Behind locked eyelids only
Glimmering a moment in the trance of love,
Recalled for a moment during the truce of music
The hyssop sponge tendered in mercy
To the parched spirit, fretful in its torment —
Temporary assuagement. The tune Time plays
Grows harder to dance to now. Man’s cleverness
Outwits itself; while round the watchful planet
The shark-nosed bombers wait to be unsheathed,
And terror needles the world heartbreak.
And the English coast, wind over the forelands
Of Europe, over the beaches of Long Island,
Autumnal wind, wailing the world sorrow,
With demon voices thronged, lewd voices
Crying out of the timid future,
Where now is paradise, the hope foresworn,
That could have been, had the heart stretched to hold it?
Where now lost Eden? Behind locked eyelids only
Glimmering a moment in the trance of love,
Recalled for a moment during the truce of music
The hyssop sponge tendered in mercy
To the parched spirit, fretful in its torment —
Temporary assuagement. The tune Time plays
Grows harder to dance to now. Man’s cleverness
Outwits itself; while round the watchful planet
The shark-nosed bombers wait to be unsheathed,
And terror needles the world heartbreak.