I don't believe in God. I do believe in avenging gods Who plague us for sins we never sinned But who avenge us. That's why I'll never have a child, Never shut up a chrysalis in a match-box For the moth to spoil and crush its bright colours, Beating its wings against the dingy prison-wall. THE POPLAR Why do you always stand there shivering Between the white stream and the road? The people pass through the dust On bicycles, in carts, in motor-cars; The waggoners go by at dawn; The lovers walk on the grass path at night. Stir from your roots, walk, poplar! You are more beautiful than they are. I know that the white wind loves you, Is always kissing you and turning up The white lining of your green petticoat. The sky darts through you like blue rain, And the grey rain drips on your flanks And loves you. And I have seen the moon Slip his silver penny into your pocket As you straightened your hair; And the white mist curling and hesitating Like a bashful lover about your knees. I know you, poplar; I have watched you since I was ten. But if you had a little real love, A little strength, You would leave your nonchalant idle lovers And go walking down the white road Behind the waggoners. There are beautiful beeches down beyond the hill. Will you always stand there shivering? ROUND-POND Water ruffled and speckled by galloping wind Which puffs and spurts it into tiny pashing breakers Dashed with lemon-yellow afternoon sunlight. The shining of the sun upon the water Is like a scattering of gold crocus-petals In a long wavering irregular flight. The water is cold to the eye As the wind to the cheek. In the budding chestnuts Whose sticky buds glimmer and are half-burst open The starlings make their clitter-clatter; And the blackbirds in the grass Are getting as fat as the pigeons. Too-hoo, this is brave; Even the cold wind is seeking a new mistress. DAISY "_Plus quam se atque suos amavit omnes, Nunc_..." CATULLUS. You were my playmate by the sea. We swam together. Your girl's body had no breasts. We found prawns among the rocks; We liked to feel the sun and to do nothing; In the evening we played games with the others. It made me glad to be by you. Sometimes I kissed you, And you were always glad to kiss me; But I was afraid--I was only fourteen. And I had quite forgotten you, You and your name. To-day I pass through the streets. She who touches my arm and talks with me Is--who knows?--Helen of Sparta, Dryope, Laodamia.... And there are you A whore in Oxford Street. EPIGRAMS A GIRL You were that clear Sicilian fluting That pains our thought even now. You were the notes Of cold fantastic grief Some few found beautiful. NEW LOVE She has new leaves After her dead flowers, Like the little almond-tree Which the frost hurt. OCTOBER The beech-leaves are silver For lack of the tree's blood. At your kiss my lips Become like the autumn beech-leaves. THE FAUN SEES SNOW FOR THE FIRST TIME Zeus, Brazen-thunder-hurler, Cloud-whirler, son-of-Kronos, Send vengeance on these Oreads Who strew White frozen flecks of mist and cloud Over the brown trees and the tufted grass Of the meadows, where the stream Runs black through shining banks Of bluish white. Zeus, Are the halls of heaven broken up That you flake down upon me Feather-strips of marble? Dis and Styx! When I stamp my hoof The frozen-cloud-specks jam into the cleft So that I reel upon two slippery points.... Fool, to stand here cursing When I might be running! LEMURES In Nineveh And beyond Nineveh In the dusk They were afraid. In Thebes of Egypt In the dusk They chanted of them to the dead. In my Lesbos and Achaia Where the God dwelt We knew them. Now men say "They are not": But in the dusk Ere the white sun comes-- A gay child that bears a white candle-- I am afraid of their rustling, Of their terrible silence, The menace of their secrecy. H. D. H. D. THE POOL Are you alive? I touch you. You quiver like a sea-fish. I cover you with my net. What are you--banded one?