Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE ECLIPSE, by JOHN COWPER POWYS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE ECLIPSE, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I said, tonight is her plenilune
Last Line: "and ""the law is the law,"" the astronomers said!"
Subject(s): Dreams; Eclipses; Love; Moon; Sea; Soul; Nightmares; Ocean


I said, Tonight is her plenilune,
And the wise astronomers held their peace,
I said, Tonight this naked moon
To her prisoned passion will give release;
And she shall gather the forests to her
And draw the oceans up to her breast.
The mountain-torrents shall leap to undo her,
And the virgin valleys shall be at rest:
And the fish from their fathomless feeding-ground
In finny circles shall upward move,
And the furry things at the lightest sound
Shall make the forest ache with love!
And fallen boughs that for centuries
Have dreamed, I said, of such a night
Shall feel in their mossy mortuaries
The living touch of her liquid light!
Great promontories, where dawn by dawn
Cormorants seeking the open sea
With yearning jet-black necks up-borne
Steer to the shoals of immensity,
Shall thrill as they feel that naked shape
Draw near with its luminous languorous power,
And over continent and cape
Float like an amorous lotus-flower.
Now, I said, with that moon at full,
While the wise astronomers kept them still,
Maids will grow more than beautiful,
And starved love-longings will have their will!
Now, I said, in this perfect night,
Lips that have paled and pined for passion
Will take at last their full delight
Mouth upon mouth in sweet lunar fashion!
Tonight is the night, I said to them all,
While the wise astronomers held their peace,
That Christ's own cloak on Love shall fall
And let mortal longings have full release!
Then I looked up. Oh pity, oh loss
Irremediable! For behold the shade
Of our own dark planet crept across,
And on that glory its image laid.
Treachery in the heavens! It grew --
That shadow of evil and suppression
Larger and larger with the smouldering hue
Of the old intolerable repression!
It grew like some monstrous shadow of doom
Crossing the threshold of a happy king
Who begins to reck that his bridal-room
Will be the place of his murdering!
Terribly, inch by inch it grew.
Carved with the ruinous runic scrolls
Of our ancient woe and well I knew
Betrayed once more were our human souls.
Treachery in the heavens! From land
And sea and every forest way,
From frightened pastures and darkened sand
Rose up a cry of wild dismay --
And Christ bent down and hid His head;
And the haters of love laughed in their bed;
And "The Law is the law," the astronomers said!





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