the threat of the Labyrinth,
the Sphinx is seen,
the Beast is slain
and the Phoenix-nest
reveals the innermost
key or the clue to the rest
of the mystery;
there is no before and no after,
there is one finite moment
that no infinite joy can disperse
or thought of past happiness
tempt from or dissipate;
now I know the best and the worst;
the seasons revolve around
a pause in the infinite rhythm
of the heart and of heaven.
Eidolon
But what could Paris know of the sea,
its beat and long reverberation,
its booming and delicate echo,
its ripple that spells a charm
on the sand, the rock-lichen,
the sea-moss, the sand,
and again and again, the sand;
what does Paris know of the hill and hollow
of billows, the sea-road?
what could he know of the ships
from his Idaean home,
the crash and spray of the foam,
the infinite loneliness
when one is never alone?
only Achilles could break his heart
and the world for a token,
a memory forgotten.
Copyright © 1961 by Norman Holmes Pearson
Introduction copyright © 1961 by Horace Gregory
All rights reserved. Except for brief passages quoted in a newspaper, magazine, radio, television, or website review, no part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the Publisher.
First published by Grove Press in 1961
Published clothbound and as New Directions Paperbook 380 in 1974
Published simultaneously in Canada by Penguin Books Canada Limited
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Doolittle, Hilda, 1886–1961.
Helen in Egypt.
(A New Directions Book)
Poem.
1. Helen of Troy—Poetry. I. H. D. II. D., H.
III. Title.
PS3507.O726H37 1974 811’.5’2 74–8563
ISBN 978-0-811-22258-7 (e-book)
New Directions Books are published for James Laughlin
by New Directions Publishing Corporation
80 Eighth Avenue, New York 10011