On The Waters Glimmering Poem by Emmanuel George Cefai

I

On the waters glimmering
the red toed nymphs are treading
slowly
slowly
slowly
though night be yet
beckoning

II

O to be Beauty and to give
of Beauty be
a noble task:
and Beauty in the night
quite equally
shines smiling
and as splendidly
as in the first splendid lights
that Dawn with her bring when
over sea and shore and land alights

III

Small songs be these
small verses
the Lyre strings
the Poet Seer sings
and chants
where there was silence
before
but soon
Silence reigns back on All
and no sound rings.

IV

I saw you go
helter-skelter round
the corner of the house
where alien be all sound
and silence silver
rides
where
together Dawn and Dusk abide.

V

And
tingling are the bells
to-day
I heard them when begun they
on the sad air to float
continued since
yet
before noon the bells had
ceased
and ceased again

VI

Sundry notes
sundry verses
sundry sounds
all
all go round and round
terse and lyrical
wine of the Soul
and breeder of more Inner Souls
nobility herself
walking

VIII

Verse I have been friend to you
Verse
Long have I suffered
Long, long, to make you
long suffering Soul
that with long
hours parched
suddenly flames
alights
the Poet Seer the Lyre strings
and verse and song begin

IX

Not in the halls
of emperor and king
Nor in the sombre majesty
that gilt cathedrals adorns
No, nor in the palaces of nobility
No, no.
But on a humble hill
the Poet-Seer since early dawn
awaking night
star-gazing, tired sings.

X

Notes
Notes that come
and
with them
the sprinkling of thoughts
random as yet as
lyrical:
chance and probability
their mechanics methodical.

XI

Sweet silence
sweet
in the long, long hours
where silence silver
reigns
in the glooms
of waning dusks and tombs
not marble gilt but humble:
to his roots
the human turns tired and bent
sick of glories and now
the brain of cemeteries
dream
and rest
rest
blessing of the Earth
and
body turning
towards the Earth from which
arose
to close!
the book to close!
the tale and yarn to end
at last!