The Wild Knight and Other Poems

And when Death comes…REDFEATHERHe shall not find me dead.

[Puts on his plumed hat. The priests go out.]

REDFEATHERThese frozen fools…

[The Lady Olive comes out of the chapel. He sees her.]

Oh, they were right enough.Where shall I hide my carrion from the sun?

[Buries his face. His hat drops to the ground.]

OLIVE [looking up.]

Captain, are you from church? I saw you not.REDFEATHERNo, I am here.

[Lays his hand on a gargoyle.]

        I, too, am a grotesque,And dance with all the devils on the roof.

OLIVE [with a strange smile.]

For Satan, also, I have often prayed.

REDFEATHER [roughly].

Satan may worry women if he will,For he was but an angel ere he fell,But I – before I fell – I was a man.OLIVEHe too, my Master, was a man: too strongTo fear a strong man's sins: 'tis written HeDescended into hell.REDFEATHERWrite, then, that I

[Leaps to the ground before her.]

Descended into heaven…        You are ill?OLIVENo, well…REDFEATHERYou speak the truth – you are the Truth —Lady, say once again then, 'I am well.'OLIVEI – ah! God give me grace – I am nigh dead.

REDFEATHER [quietly.]

Lord Orm?OLIVEYes – yes.REDFEATHER        Is in your father's house —Having the title-deeds – would drive you forth.Homeless, and with your father sick to death,Into this winter, save on a conditionNamed…OLIVE    And unnameable. Even so; Lord Orm —Ah! do you know him?REDFEATHER        Ay, I saw him once.The sun shone on his face, that smiled and smiled,A sight not wholesome to the eyes of man.OLIVECaptain, I tell you God once fell asleep.And in that hour the world went as it would;Dogs brought forth cats, and poison grew in grapes,And Orm was born…REDFEATHER        Why, curse him! can he notBe kicked or paid?

OLIVE [feverishly].

        Hush! He is just behindThere in the house – see how the great house glares,Glares like an ogre's mask – the whole dead housePossessed with bestial meaning…

[Screams]

        Ah! the face!The whole great grinning house – his face! his face!His face!

REDFEATHER [in a voice of thunder, pointing away from the house].

Look there – look there!OLIVEWhat is it? What?REDFEATHERI think it was a bird.OLIVEWhat thought you, truly?REDFEATHERI think a mighty thought is drawing near.

[Enter THE WILD KNIGHT.]

THE WILD KNIGHTThat house…

[Points.]

OLIVEAh Christ! [Shudders.] I had forgotten it.

THE WILD KNIGHT [still pointing].

That house! the house at last, the house of God,Wherein God makes an evening feast for me.The house at last: I know the twisted pathUnder the twisted pear-tree: this I sawIn the first dream I had ere I was born.It is the house of God. He welcomes me.

[Strides forward.]

REDFEATHERThat house. God's blood!

OLIVE [hysterically].

Is not this hell's own wit?THE WILD KNIGHTGod grows impatient, and His wine is poured,His bread is broken.

[Rushes forward.]

REDFEATHER [leaps between].

       Stand away, great fool,There is a devil there!

THE WILD KNIGHT [draws his sword, and waves it as he rushes].

God's house! – God's house!

REDFEATHER [plucks out his own sword].

Better my hand than his.

[The blades clash.]

        God alone knowsWhat That within might do to you, poor fool,I can but kill you.

[They fight. OLIVE tries to part them.]

REDFEATHEROlive, stand away!OLIVEI will not stand away!

[Steps between the swords.]

        Stranger, a word,Yes – you are right – God is within that house.REDFEATHEROlive!OLIVE    But He is all too beautifulFor us who only know of stars and flowers.The thing within is all too pure and fair,

[Shudders.]

Too awful in its ancient innocence,For men to look upon it and not die;Ourselves would fade into those still white firesOf peace and mercy.

[Struggles with her voice.]

There … enough … the law —No flesh shall look upon the Lord and live.

REDFEATHER [sticking his sword in the ground].

You are the bravest lady in the world.

THE WILD KNIGHT [dazed].

May I not go within?REDFEATHERKeep you the law —No flesh shall look upon the Lord and live.

THE WILD KNIGHT [sadly].

Then I will go and lay me in the flowers,For He may haply, as in ancient time,Walk in the garden in the cool of day.

[He goes out.]

[OLIVE reels. REDFEATHER catches her.]

You are the strongest woman upon earth.The weakest woman than the strongest manIs stronger in her hour: this is the law.When the hour passes – then may we be strong.

OLIVE [wildly.]

The House … the Face.

REDFEATHER [fiercely].

I love you. Look at me!

OLIVE [turns her face to him.]

I hear six birds sing in that little tree,Say, is the old earth laughing at my fears?I think I love you also…REDFEATHER        What I amYou know. But I will never curse a man,Even in a mirror.

OLIVE [smiling at him].

And the Devil's dance?REDFEATHERThe Devil plotted since the world was youngWith alchemies of fire and witches' oilsAnd magic. But he never made a man.OLIVENo; not a man.REDFEATHER        Not even my Lord Orm.Look at the house now —

[She starts and looks.]

Honest brick and tiles.OLIVEYou have a strange strength in this hour.REDFEATHER        This hourI see with mortal eye as in one flashThe whole divine democracy of things,And dare the stars to scorn a scavenge-heap.Olive, I tell you every soul is great.Weave we green crowns – how noble and how high;Fling we white flowers – how radiant and how pureIs he, whoe'er he be, who next shall crossThis scrap of grass…

[Enter LORD ORM. ]

OLIVE [screams].

Ah!

REDFEATHER [pointing to the chapel].

Olive, go and pray for a man soon to die. Good-day, my Lord.

[She goes in.]

LORD ORMGood-day.REDFEATHERI am a friend to Lady Olive.LORD ORMSir, you are fortunate.REDFEATHER        Most fortunateIn finding, sword on thigh and ready, oneWho is a villain and a gentleman.

LORD ORM [picks up the flagon].

Empty, I see.REDFEATHER        Oh sir, you never drink.You dread to lose yourself before the stars —Do you not dread to sleep?

LORD ORM [violently].

What would you here?REDFEATHERReceive from you the title-deeds you hold.LORD ORMYou entertain me.REDFEATHERWith a bout at foils?LORD ORMI will not fight.REDFEATHER        I know you better, then.I have seen men grow mangier than the beasts,Eat bread with blood upon their fingers, grinWhile women burned: but one last law they served.When I say 'Coward,' is the law awake?LORD ORMHear me, then, too: I have seen robbers rule,And thieves go clad in gold – age after age —Because, though sordid, ragged, rude, and mean,They saw, like gods, no law above their heads.But when they fell – then for this cause they fell,This last mean cobweb of the fairy talesOf good and ill: that they must stand and fightWhen a man bade, though they had chose to standAnd fight not. I am stronger than the world.

[Folds his arms.]

REDFEATHER [lifts his hand].

If in your body be the blood of man,

[Strikes him.]

Now let it rush to the face —        God! Have you sunkLower than anger?LORD ORMHow I triumph now.

REDFEATHER [stamps wildly].

Damned, whimpering dog! vile, snivelling, sick poltroon!Are you alive?LORD ORM        Evil, be thou my good;Let the sun blacken and the moon be blood:I have said the words.

REDFEATHER [studying him].

        And if I struck you dead,You would turn to daisies!LORD ORMAnd you do not strike.

REDFEATHER [dreamily].

Indeed, poor soul, such magic would be kindAnd full of pity as a fairy-tale:One touch of this bright wand [Lifts his sword]    and down would dropThe dark abortive blunder that is you.And you would change, forgiven, into flowers.LORD ORMAnd yet – and yet you do not strike me dead.I do not draw: the sword is in your hand —Drive the blade through me where I stand.REDFEATHER            Lord Orm,You asked the Lady Olive (I can speakAs to a toad to you, my lord) – you askedOlive to be your paramour: and she —LORD ORMRefused.REDFEATHER    And yet her father was at stake,And she is soft and kind. Now look at me,Ragged and ruined, soaked in bestial sins:My lord, I too have my virginity —Turn the thing round, my lord, and topside down,You cannot spell it. Be the fact enough,I use no sword upon a swordless man.LORD ORMFor her?REDFEATHERI too have my virginity.LORD ORMNow look on me: I am the lord of earth,For I have broken the last bond of man.I stand erect, crowned with the stars – and why?Because I stand a coward – because youHave mercy – on a coward. Do I win?REDFEATHERThough there you stand with moving mouth and eyes,I think, my lord, you are not possible —God keep you from my dreams.

[Goes out.]

LORD ORM            Alone and free.Since first in flowery meads a child I ran,My one long thirst – to be alone and free.Free of all laws, creeds, codes, and common tests,Shameless, anarchic, infinite.            Why, then,I might have done in that dark liberty —If I should say 'a good deed,' men would laugh,But here are none to laugh.            The godless worldBe thanked there is no God to spy on me,Catch me and crown me with a vulgar crownFor what I do: if I should once believeThe horror of that ancient EavesdropperBehind the starry arras of the skies,I should – well, well, enough of menaces —should not do the thing I come to do.What do I come to do? Let me but tryTo spell it to my soul.            Suppose a manPerfectly free and utterly alone,Free of all love of law, equally freeOf all the love of mutiny it breeds,Free of the love of heaven, and also freeOf all the love of hell it drives us to;Not merely void of rules, unconscious of them;So strong that naught alive could do him hurt,So wise that he knew all things, and so greatThat none knew what he was or what he did —A lawless giant.

[A pause: then in a low voice.]

        Would he not be good?Hate is the weakness of a thwarted thing,Pride is the weakness of a thing unpraised.But he, this man…He would be like a childGirt with the tomes of some vast library,Who reads romance after romance, and smilesWhen every tale ends well: impersonalAs God he grows – melted in suns and stars;So would this boundless man, whom none could spy,Taunt him with virtue, censure him with vice,Rejoice in all men's joys; with golden penWrite all the live romances of the earthTo a triumphant close…            Alone and free —In this grey, cool, clean garden, washed with winds,What do I come to do among the grass,The daisies, and the dews? An awful thing,To prove I am that man.            That while these saintsTaunt me with trembling, dare me to revenge,I breathe an upper air of ancient goodAnd strong eternal laughter; send my sunAnd rain upon the evil and the just,Turn my left cheek unto the smiter. HeThat told me, sword in hand, that I had fallenLower than anger, knew not I had risenHigher than pride…            Enough, the deeds are mine.

[Takes out the title-deeds.]

I come to write the end of a romance.A good romance: the characters – Lord Orm.Type of the starvéd heart and storéd brain,Who strives to hate and cannot; fronting him —Redfeather, rake in process of reform,At root a poet: I have hopes of him:He can love virtue, for he still loves vice.He is not all burnt out. He beats me there(How I beat him in owning it!); in loveHe is still young, and has the joy of shame.And for the Lady Olive – who shall speak?A man may weigh the courage of a man,But if there be a bottomless abyssIt is a woman's valour: such as ICan only bow the knee and hide the face(Thank God there is no God to spy on meAnd bring his curséd crowns).            No, there is none:The old incurable hunger of the worldSurges in wolfish wars, age after age.There was no God before me: none sees where,Between the brute-womb and the deaf, dead grave,Unhoping, unrecorded, unrepaid,I make with smoke, fire, and burnt-offeringThis sacrifice to Chaos. [Lights the papers.] None beholdMe write in fire the end of the romance.Burn! I am God, and crown myself with stars.Upon creation day: before was nightAnd chaos of a blind and cruel world.I am the first God; I will trample hell,Fight, conquer, make the story of the stars,Like this poor story, end like a romance:

[The paper burns.]

Before was brainless night: but I am GodIn this black world I rend. Let there be light!

[The paper blazes up, illuminating the garden.]

I, God …

THE WILD KNIGHT [rushes forward].

    God's Light! God's Voice; yes, it is HeWalking in Eden in the cool of the day!

LORD ORM [screams].

Tricked! Caught!Damned screeching rat in a hole!

[Stabs him again and again with his sword; stamps on his face.]

THE WILD KNIGHT [faintly].

Earth grows too beautiful around me: shapesAnd colours fearfully wax fair and clear,For I have heard, as thro' a door ajar,Scraps of the huge soliloquy of GodThat moveth as a mask the lips of man,If man be very silent: they were right,No flesh shall look upon the Lord and live.

[Dies.]

LORD ORM [staggers back laughing].

Saved, saved, my secret.

REDFEATHER [rushing in, sword in hand].

        The drawn sword at last!Guard, son of hell!

[They fight. ORM falls. OLIVE comes in.]

        He too can die. Keep back!Olive, keep back from him! I did not fearHim living, and he fell before my sword;But dead I fear him. All is ended now;A man's whole life tied in a bundle there,And no good deed. I fear him. Come away.

GOOD NEWS

Between a meadow and a cloud that sped  In rain and twilight, in desire and fear.  I heard a secret – hearken in your ear,'Behold the daisy has a ring of red.'That hour, with half of blessing, half of ban,  A great voice went through heaven, and earth and hell,  Crying, 'We are tricked, my great ones, is it well?Now is the secret stolen by a man.'Then waxed I like the wind because of this,  And ran, like gospel and apocalypse,  From door to door, with new anarchic lips,Crying the very blasphemy of bliss.In the last wreck of Nature, dark and dread,  Shall in eclipse's hideous hieroglyph,  One wild form reel on the last rocking cliff,And shout, 'The daisy has a ring of red.'