Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

HERE IS MUSIC: DOUBLE BALLADE WITH DOUBLE REFRAIN (1) by AUSTIN PHILIPS

First Line: I HELD, AFORETIME, MAN MUST THIEVE
Last Line: SINCE MAN BUT GARNERS THAT HE GAVE!
Subject(s): MEN;
I HELD, aforetime, man must thieve
His thoughts, his deeds from alien bin,
Must "take his good where found", derive
(Though Heaven's Kingdom lies within!)
Success through rape, through disseisin
Of others wits, out-dare, out-brave
The @3bravo@1 ... dreamed not that we win
And garner only that we gave.

Not native to my soul such hive
Of harsh ideals. 'Twas my kin
And kith who sired them, swift to rive
(Though Heaven's Kingdom lies within!)
My real self, who held it sin
I should not stay their spiritual slave,
Nor guessed how serf, king, capuchin
Can only garner that he gave.

They held me nidering, feigned to grieve
That I, their scapegoat, failed to spin
My thread of days as theirs, achieve
(But Heaven's Kingdom lies within!)
Odious advancement, hobgoblin
Of meaner minds; thus, gibing, drave
Me to forget, 'neath foul pasquin,
How man but garners that he gave.

Long years I laboured, sought reprieve
From loftier dreams amid the din
And dust of this loud world, would shrive,
(Though Heaven's Kingdom lies within!)
As Saxon thrall with metheglin.
My soul, ride crest of Fortune's wave
On fiction false to Truth and thin. ...
Through man but garners that he gave.

Sudden I sickened, longed to live
Freeman, not high-fee'd harlequin,
Fain for atonement, ached to weave
(Since Heaven's Kingdom lies within!)
True songs which, held, in gyve and gin,
Had pedestal, key, architrave
Deep in my heart's core's hidden shrine. ...
Since man but garners that he gave.

I dared forthwith and, fugitive
From folly, flung base, bombasin
Word-woof aside and, invasive,
(Since Heaven's Kingdom lies within!)
Searched mine own heart for replevin,
Pilgrim'd Parnassus, staunch to save
My soul and serve the Sacred Nine. ...
Since man but garners that he gave.

@3Envoi@1

Assoiled from guilt and black chagrin,
(For Heaven's Kingdom lies within.)
Their Priest I stand till comes the grave. ...
Since man but garners that he gave!



Home: PoetryExplorer.net