OF THAT SHIELD THE PYRAMID THE EGYPTIANS UNDERSTOOD
WAS THAT EXACT PRISM OF LIGHT ENERGY THEY CD ONLY
REPRODUCE IN STONE SUCH EXACT STRUCTURING IN QUARTZ WD
HAVE MADE THEM MASTERS OF THE WORLD THE SUN KING AKHNATON
DID THIS HE HAD MADE IN ROCK CRYSTAL 15 METERS HIGH
SUCH A PYRAMID EVEN THO ALAS A FRACTIONAL
MILLIMETER WRONG ITS GLOW WAS SEEN IN MINOAN SKIES
UNDER THEBES TODAY IS THE MELTED LAKE OF HIS JEWEL
What went wrong?
THE PINNACLE POINTED CAPSTONE THRUOUT A YEAR POLISHD
BY 1500 SLAVES WAS AT LAST LIFTED INTO PLACE
AT NIGHT GREAT CRANES GROAND & HE WATCHD SO INTENSELY THRILLD HIS
PHYSICIANS FED HIM OPIUM EACH HOUR THEY THEN WITHDREW
B4 DAWN ON BARGES DECORATED WITH MINIATURE
PYRAMIDS OF DIAMOND & DAWN BROKE A TOTAL SLOW
SKYFILLING LIGHT BEGAN THE PEOPLE FELL ON THEIR FACES
HE STOOD UPON HIS JEWELD BARGE WHILE DIAMONDS GLARED &
SPLINTERD THE PYRAMID EVEN AS WE DID ROSE&FELL
A GLORIOUS END AKHNATON & HIS QUEEN CUT THEIR WRISTS
INTO THE CRIMSON WATERS & THEIR BARGE SANK
And if he’d measured correctly?
EARTH IN FLAMES
THERA ON A DIRECT NORTHERN LINE ERUPTED MINOA
PERISHD IN EGYPT THE CALM EYE OF THE ATOM ALONE
THE PYRAMID & JEWELS ON THE BARGES EXPLODED
2 DIAMONDS CLOSER TO EXACTITUDE MADE A LIGHT
STRONGER THAN ALL COMBIND & THESE 2 MEASURED ONE 7TH
OF A MILLIMETER THEBES WAS ABANDOND NOT DESTROYD
THE DESERT ONCE FERTILIZABLE WAS 1200 YEARS
QUITE BARREN & THIS BUT FOR THOSE 2 LITTLE DIAMONDS
MIND U WAS HARDLY A FULL DRESS NUCLEAR EXPLOSION
Which leads Them to the work. I am to measure
My own pyramid—don’t ask me how.
Numerals 1 through 0 will POINT THE WAY
Moved by their narrative as by their may
I call it faith that we will somewhere put
Everything they tell to brilliant use,
We promise gravely to give all we can.
WE TOO WILL GIVE WHAT WE CAN WE WANT WHAT HAS IN FACT BEEN
25 YEARS IN PREPARATION WE FIRST CALLD U THEN NOW
U ARE READY YR LIVES ARE POLISHD HOISTED INTO PLACE
JM DJ YOU ARE OUR CRYSTAL RECEIVE US WE ARE
YR LIGHT THE 10 NUMBERS ARE YR MEASURE OURS WAS 14
MES ENFANTS HOW MADDENING I MUST HAVE BEEN
TO MY INTELLIGENT FRIENDS LOUROS POOR DEAR
(Her doctor) TRYING TO EXPLAIN ONE HOT
EVENING MY RADIATION TREATMENTS I
BEGGED HIM STOP BORING ME WHEN HE DID NOT
I SPILT MY COFFEE ON HIS LONDON SUIT
DJ: Maria, did you know? THAT I WAS
Pause. I KNEW The cup appears to pull
Itself together. BUT COULD NOT LET FEAR SHOW
(FEAR MY SLEAZY SLIP COULEUR DE PEAU)
YOU DJ WHO FEAR SO MUCH & CRAVE
THE COMFORT WE LOVE GIVING DONT FORGET
LIFE TERRIFIES ALL ALL BUT THE UTTER FOOLS
But you’re…not living, and still terrified.
OF THEM AS U ARE I HAVE MORE TO LOSE
Literally? I BELIEVE SO THEY CAN USE
FI Censorship.
Oh really, not again!
(Cantabile) SHE HAS LEFT A MINOR CRISIS
Who’s this? MES CHERS ONLY YR OLD Ah, Ephraim,
Are we making trouble for Maman?
She said that They could use fire—is it true?
& ROUND U IN A WIDE CHARMED CIRCLE WHO
DO U THINK STAND READY TO EXTINGUISH IT
EPHRAIM & MAYA HANS & MARIUS
WHA & CHESTER ALL OF US
SO SHOW YR METTLE U ARE BIG BOYS NOW
We gulp, and hope that Wystan has not seen
Our panic. Do these talks repel him? GREEN
MY DEARS WITH ENVY I COULD CURSE MY HIGH
ANGLICAN PRINCIPLES IN OXFORD DAYS
THE TABLES TAPPED OUT MANY A SMART OR EERIE
RHYTHM UNTIL OUR POLITICS TOOK OVER
THEN THE ABSORBING LOVES & THEN THE DREARY
WASH CONFESSION DONT U SEE THE CHURCH
MY DEARS THE DREARY DREARY DEAD BANG WRONG
CHURCH & ALL THOSE YEARS I COULD HAVE HELD
HANDS ON TEACUPS I AM RIVETED
BUT NOT INCLUDED MIGHT ONE JOIN MM
AT YOUR SEANCE Oh please! You’d raise the level
Enormously—of course it’s up to Them.
NOT AT ALL IT SHALL BE ORDERD AS THE SCRIBE DESIRES
2
Bethinking us of bargains with the devil,
What, I wonder, do we stand to lose
Or gain? Faust got his youth back—or was it life
Eternal? Was there ever a real Faust?
And how does one go about getting life eternal?
NOT FAUST MY BOY IT WD SEEM THESE CREATURES ARE
MORE LIKE INFORMATION BANKS TO TAP
NO NEED TO SIGN AWAY THE SOUL Dear Wystan,
Dead or alive, a mine of sense. Our school’s
New kindergarten teacher shows concurrence
By passing out this kit of tiny tools:
: ‘ . ( ! ) — , / ?
Now someone’s talking. The halfmoon of bare
Board between our numbers and our letters
Resembles a work-space for paper dolls.
Wee scoops, tacks, tweezers, awl and buttonhook,
Comma doubling as apostrophe
And dash as hyphen—tinkering symbols known
Not in themselves, but through effects on tone.
The character who supplies them, by that token
Distinguishes himself from who has spoken
Up to now, and strikes a note we’ve missed,
Clerkly but eager, glad to be with us—
Young lab assistant, or cub journalist
Thrilled by his first big scoop, yet not above
Enhancing revelation with the odd
Parenthesis or restful period.
Is it still Bezel— I can’t say that name
But you know who I mean: are you the same?
2.1
I HAVE A NUMBER: 741 ONE (U HAVE UNDERSTOOD)
OF A FIGURATIVELY NUMBERLESS HOST WE ARE NOT
AT ALL TIMES THE SAME INTELLIGENCE 40070
SPOKE YESTERDAY
He was fascinating, but that martinet
Barging in on us the other night—
40076 HE VEXD U HE WILL
NOT RETURN
DJ: You haven’t punished him! I sometimes
Feel that your whole world is so inhuman.
WE DO NOT REGULATE WE ARE MESSENGERS
NOTHING MORE WE ARE ORDERD, THEN WE SLEEP ARE U AT EASE?
POINTER PERHAPS SLOWER? WE MUST BE COMFORTABLE, NO?
TEACH ME I AM THE PUPIL TODAY TELL ME OF…MANNERS?
Now you shame us. We tell you? We who’ve been
Remote and rude—but vexed more by our slowness
Than by your discipline.
YR VOICE IS SWEET And your pace gentle.
THESE LESSONS ASK A BLEST ENVIRONMENT
IF WE WORK WELL TOGETHER I CAN AGAIN BE SUMMOND
MES ENFANTS THIS NEW ONE IS A DOVE
You can’t mean—ONLY BY COMPARISON:
THE LANDLORDS WHO CAME UPCOUNTRY FROM THE CITY
SCREAMING
ORDERS NOW GET THE WORK DONE
BY MURMURING THE DIALECT
MY DEARS
TOO DIZZY MAKING AT THE FEET OF 1
2 3 FOURTEEN ENORMOUS VAMPIRE BATS
SO LIKE ONE’S EARLIEST SENSE OF GOTHIC DECOR
MAY I? THE FAUST LEGEND IS AN OLD ONE BASED UPON FACT:
GOD B SENT 8002 TO POPE INNOCENT VI
WITH INSTRUCTIONS TO END A PLAGUE THE POPE MADE A BARGAIN:
IMMORTAL LIFE WHICH DISPLEASD GOD BIOLOGY SINCE DEATH
IS PRODUCTIVE. INNOCENT GIVEN THE POWER TO BLESS
AWAY THE PLAGUE (BY SIMPLY TELLING THEM TO BOIL WATER)
HE USED IT. IT BECAME HIS IMMORTALITY THEN AS
HE LAY COMPLAINING & DYING HE CURSED ALL BARGAINS WITH
THE DEVIL THIS CURSE RETOLD SPREAD FAR BEYOND AVIGNON
ENDING WHAT IN EUROPE HAD BEEN A THRIVING PAGANISM
JM: I think I see where this is meant
To lead us—clever! Faust was Innocent.
INDEED A CERTIFIED PRIEST HIS LEGEND WAS NO LEGEND
XTIANITY MADE AN EVIL OF WHAT ONCE HAD BEEN NOT
BARGAINS BUT RITES, PRAYERS PRAYD & ANSWERD. IN SHORT THOSE CURES
Quite the real thing. Which no one ever got?
5 DID: LADUMAN SORIVA RACHEL TORRO & VON
Von what? Just Von? OK, OK, go on.
THESE HAVE LIVED CENTURIES & LIVE TODAY HELDOVER LIVES
NOT IN THE SCHEME U KNOW OF THE 9 STAGES. REMAINING
AWARE OF IT ALL, KNOWING THE FRUITLESSNESS OF SPEAKING
OF THEIR KNOWLEDGE, THEY RETURN TO EARTH CHARGED WITH ENERGY
BEYOND THE NORM EXAMPLE: HE WHO WAS MONTEZUMA
NOW AN E GERMAN ASTROPHYSICIST, AT 30 LEADS
HIS FIELD IN THE STUDY OF IN-SPACE RADIANT POWERS
That last bit sounds at least potentially
Scientific. Shouldn’t we hear more?
JUST AS U WISH U HAVE NOT ASKD ABOUT THE UNIVERSE
And, adding that tomorrow he’ll return
To brief us on the subject, leaves
—With fourteen others, Wystan, did you say?
& MY DEAR THE HEAT! THEY GLOW LIKE FRANKLIN STOVES
IN REDEYED MEMORY OF THEIR ORDEAL
Any sign yet of the sons of Abel?
TOO SOON THESE I PRESUME ARE THE CLERK TYPISTS
OR IN YR WORDS THE BOBS THE FURNACE MEN
I WD SUGGEST U BEAR DOWN FANCY NOT
ASKING ABOUT THE UNIVERSE! See how Wystan’s
Intellect begins to light the way.
A COMFORT MON ENFANT BUT KEEPS HIS THROAT
PROTECTED JUST IN CASE ALORS OFF GOES
MAMAN TO CHANGE INTO SOMETHING LESS SCORCHED
ASK TOMORROW ABOUT UFO’S
2.2
THE UNIVERSE: IT IS OUR NEIGHBOR WE DO NOT CONTROL
OR FULLY KNOW ITS REACHES THERE4 OUR USE OF EXTRA-
LIFE SOULS FOR RESEARCH LIKE MONTEZUMA WHO NOW BELIEVES
WE RACE FOR ORDER UNDER ORDERS TO SAVE THE GREENHOUSE.
THE STARS HAVE PATTERNS & SPEAK TO A PART OF OUR ORDERS.
NOT UNLIKE THE HOLES IN COMPUTERIZED CARD RESPONSES
MUCH TURNS ON THEIR ARRANGEMENT MONTHLY AS U KNOW IT BY
CENTURY & MILLENIUM AS WE DO A NEW HOLE?
A GAP? A NEW ARRANGEMENT FOR US: WE READ A VAST CARD
U SEE SIDEWAYS DIMLY FLASHING
The Milky Way? YES & READJUST: SPEEDS
OF ROTATION ORBIT ANGLES POLAR CAP DENSITIES
& HAVE GROWN TO FEEL GOD B’S GREENHOUSE RELATED, ITSELF
A HOLE IN A COMPUTER CARD FOR OTHER GREENHOUSES
WITHIN OUR UNIVERSE & AT OUR SAME RATE OF ADVANCE:
WE WD HAVE DETECTED A SUPERSYSTEM OR IT US
IN DANTE THE VISION WAS STARLIKE AS HE LOOKD INTO
THE ATOM’S EYE HE SAW THE POTENTIAL OF PARADISE
JM: Ah. This refers
To that uncanny shining tininess
Ringed with decelerating zones of light
(Paradiso XXVIII) on which, says Beatrice,
The heavens and all nature are dependent.
ELECTRONICS, BY NOW QUITE ADVANCED THANKS TO COMMERCE’S
PASSION FOR COMMUNICATIONS, TELLS U THERE ARE SIGNALS.
THESE WE HAVE LONG HEARD & EVEN THESE CAME TO DANTE A
KIND OF MUSIC HE PERSONIFIED IN FEMALE FORM &
UP INTO THE TUSCAN HILLS FOLLOWD & LOST WHEREUPON
HE SANK FAINTING TO HIS KNEES. WE SENT 80098
So Ephraim’s version of the Comedy’s
Origin isn’t wholly accurate.
CALL IT A SATELLITE TRUTH THAT ORBITS THE ESSENTIAL.
DANTE’S STRENGTH & THAT OF HIS TIME WAS FIERCE CREDULITY
ALL POSSIBLE GOOD & EVIL WRESTLING REDEEMING LOVE
& AWSOME VISION DREAM, FACT & EXPERIENCE WERE ONE.
THOSE SIGNALS? THE UNIVERSAL WIND RATTLING HEAVEN’S DOOR:
UP FROM THIS BEAT SWARMD DANTE’S POETRY HE HEARD IT &
WE THRU HIM HEARD FOR THE 1ST TIME & RECOGNIZED AS TRUE
THAT SEGMENT OF THE UNIVERSE HE UTTERD HIS VISION
IS NOT OF OUR PARADISE BUT THE SOURCE OF ALL POWER
The verse in Paradiso, to my ears,
Rings with a new, impersonal energy.
INDEED HE WENT DOWN THRU THE STAGES 9 TO 1 FROM 0
DJ: O being that same zero point?
YES JM IS GOING UP THE SCALE WE WILL SEE HOW FAR
IF & WHEN THE ANGELS SPEAK TO U THEY SPOKE OUTRIGHT TO
DANTE & THE 4 APOSTLES & THE TRANSPLANTED JEWS
BUDDHA & MOHAMMED
The Chosen People—if those two are Jews—
Certainly had the knack of how to choose.
SENTIENT LIFE AFTER OUR FALL WAS IN THE SEED OF THE JEW
FROM THIS CAME ALL RACES: THE APE THEN THE JEW THEN THE REST
U WILL BE TOLD THIS GREAT HISTORY ONE THING AT A TIME
MM HAS ASKD ABOUT THE SAUCERS THEY SCOUT OUR GREENHOUSE
& SEEM TO BE OF IT (FOR WE DO NOT KNOW ITS LIMITS)
FORESTS & JUNGLES ATTRACT THEM THEY SEEM UNOCCUPIED.
THINK OF ATOMICALLY POWERD BEES CHARGED WE BELIEVE
WITH THE TRANSFERTILIZATION OF SENSE-DATA
JM: Does that answer your question, Maman?
Let me ask, is the moon made of green cheese?
THE MOON
JM IS A MONUMENT TO OUR FAILURE IT SPUN OFF
FROM THE STUFF OF OUR WORLD IN A PUFFBALL OF BLAZING DUST
Yes, yes, that old hypothesis: the moon
Torn from Earth’s side—
NO NO NO WE MADE IT IT WAS THE CRUST ROTATION SWEPT
UP & FUSED OUR DEBRIS INTO A HAUNTING REMINDER
A crust composed of what?
MATERIALS THE ATOM MADE NONGRAVITATIONAL.
THE 14 POINTS OF CONTACT HELD OUR SKIN IN PLACE THEY STRAIND
& BROKE & OUR VAST SKEIN OF SMOOTH PLAINS & LATTICE CITIES
(TO OUR EYES FAIR & NATURAL) SHIVERD BROKE INTO FLAME
14 STRONG SILENT TYPES AGAIN IN TEARS
OUR POET DABS HIS EYES MAMAN PRETENDING
TO MANLINESS DISGUISES A SNUFFLE OR 2
As does David, to my slight surprise.
THAT IS OUR 15TH CONTACT: SYMPATHY
SARCASM MON ENFANT WILL GET U NOWHERE
THEN LIFTING OUR HEADS ABOVE OUR RUIN AH WE SAW THEM
COME TO PUT OUT THE FLAMES
&nbs
p; Who came—forces from the universe?
OR SERVANTS OF BIOLOGY
A FORMLESS CLOUD AS IT COOLD WE HEARD IT WE HEARD THE SONG
Hadn’t you said you heard it first through Dante?
WE HEARD THRU DANTE WHAT OUR ELDERS SHRANK TO HEAR AGAIN
Gone!—but in their place the lingering charm
Of Wystan and Maria, arm in arm.
2.3
Athens, 1965. N’s party
For Auden. Absolutely everyone
Is there, from Chester’s evzones to an ex-
Minister of Culture—over his shoulder
Maria winks at DJ; she’s begun
Amusedly this year avoiding parties.
Only the guest of honor’s late:
Subject to a TV interview
(Technicians flown from London for that purpose)
On how it feels to be, since yesterday
Upon the death of Eliot, the gray
Eminence of English letters. Here
At last he is, disheveled, shaking hands,
Between pronouncements downing the first martini
—“But what on earth do people say to him?”
Protests Maria twenty minutes later
Edging behind me (“Trust your Child for once”)
To the sofa where he sits alone, eyes shut,
Glass drained. Returning with it full, I drink
Them in, two marvels meeting, past their prime
And pleased enough not to be overjoyed:
Collar frayed and black unalterable;
Deep seams of his absorption, mask of her
Idleness tilted up from foam-streaked hair;
Two profiles, then, in something like relief
Tarnished by a mutual smoke screen—
Her cancer at this point, like his weak heart
And Strato’s glance that from across the room
Kindles catching mine, undiagnosed.
Promising not to leave them there, I do:
Father of forms and matter-of-fact mother
Saying what on Earth to one another…
And what in Heaven do they find to say,
Young now, high-spirited? Maria
Out on a favorite dead limb of slang
Twits Wystan for A RUDDY HANDSOME BUGGER
To which he gallantly: I WD HAVE CHANGED
ALL THAT FOR HER! Affection blossoms, never
Once excluding theirs for us. Why should it?