STACK ANNEX 5 025 044 ECHOES FROM EDEN By Alberta Babcock t!JWV. OE CALIF. LIBRAHY, LOS ANGELA ECHOES FROM EDEN By Alberta Babcock Round Table Press Alpine, Texas CONTENTS A Manger, a Door, a Key 26 The Brightest Shroud 31 Crown of Pain 22 Dark Land of Evil Dreams 12 The Divine Miser 29 Ebbing Love 10 Echoes from Eden 5 Existentionalist Prayer 8 f ire From the Waters of the World . . . . 15 Hymn to Imanuel ....... 27 In the Last Analysis 11 Like a Fluted Song 6 Like Broken Glass 18 Now is Forever 19 Ophelia 14 The Other Half .24 The Patient One 23 The Promise and the Dream . . . . 10 Residue . 11 Smaller Than a Mustard Seed . . . . 21 Tenants of Delinquency 30 Unbound 16 Unity 25 Voice of Pegasus 17 Voice of the Public Statue 9 The Waterfall .13 Who Mourns for Bells in Eden .... 20 Windows to the Lover 28 ECHOES FROM EDEN He called into Eden Strange echoes returned- His unearthly song not Alone in me burned. The words all have faded That Ghost -haunted Song Lures me like magnets To where I belong. Echoes from Eden No thistles or labor, Apples for Adam and Figs for the neighbor. Welcome the Ghost and The stranger that sings And the echo from Eden The perfume it brings. 5 1316800 LIKE A FLUTED SONG In the moon- swept purple skies A woman, moves with sapphire eyes Through the dark, a thing of ice. She steps on stars (the strange hours pass) They make the music of broken glass As they fall in the void, resound and crash. Still and thin like a fluted song, Icicles tinkle and jingle along, She moves where wondrous things belong. She stirs great tempests blowing over-- Her long, blue veils the storm clouds cover- She sweeps the skies for a phantom lover The swell of music --a deafening roar - Beats on the souls frail shell like shore The Queen of the Arts has passed once more. FIRE We are buried in the sky Dig us up and let us die Lay us out like colored skeins Paint with fire our hearts and brains. Restless in our lofty grave This vast, eternal, endless cave Yields us but a lonely light Winter, iron and clay and night. If you have tasted brighter bread Dined on fire where angels fed The sweets that mortal greed pursues You cannot find, you cannot lose- Sad bewildered sky-bound ghost Fire is banquet, Fire is Host. EXISTENTIONALIST PRAYER Tear, tear from the heart of me The snake coiled roots of this naked tree The fractured moments like broken crocks That spill my life on the hungry rocks - Tear, tear from my living mind All that is dying and silent and blind, The twisted hands and mouths of fate The armies that winnow the cities of hate. Plant in me harvests and tear out the weeds Bind up the wonderful wound as it bleeds. Tear the temporal discords away- The thieves in the coils of my mortal day. 8 VOICE OF THE PUBLIC STATUE I met Medusa and Turned to stone. By all about it is well known, (If you prefer I thus abide) Enjoying being petrified. It is a cool longevity Better than fleshy brevity. I will survey this whole domain When you no longer here remain. All of your ecstasy and pain Will pass with summer sun and rain. My destiny? to stand alone. Immutable eternal stone. THE PROMISE AND THE DREAM What became of all the youthful froth? Is it worth the promise and the dream? What virgin Spring gave bluntly, seemed so gay-- Then the death of Winter froze the stream The razor edge of Autumn cut it through (The wealth of youth the four -eyed- girl- boy knew) The poles of North and South, the moon-drawn- truth Hitched to a tantalizing, bursting team. Above sea-gardens, gulls and chiming clouds Far from blood-berried earth and still-born dream- Is the mark upon their foreheads spinning From the end, or cause to a beginning? EBBING LOVE He calls with diamond voice the river, Hangs the earth with alien ice, Builds an avalanche of cloud banks Autumn's dream and echo dies. Death comes by on silver skates, Chasing folk in fur and feather. Time to feed that thin blue flame Of love against the winter weather. 10 RESIDUE Shiva with her myriad crayons writes Her manuscripts upon the days and nights. Her lightening draws Blue jagged jaws That frighten herds of dragons into flight. While here between my brows, around my waist, Her Plowman carves indelibly, What will not be erased. How can I catch the love notes now, with wings, Over the wall white butterflies, she flings, That flutter off before a word is read. My grass-roots scrawl in earth a prayer for bread. IN THE LAST ANALYSIS THERE IS NO LOGICIAN LIKE THE RAPT SAINT Love is like a wild thing Hiding in the wood, At slightest sign of noise or knives It vanishes for good. But let the hunter kneel in prayer The forests teem with friendly faces, Love is like the warm, wild things In leafy, secret hiding places. 11 DARK LAND OF EVIL, DREAMS Mysteries were stirring out in the briny deep The children in the town were restless in their sleep Silence turned to bedlam and the barking, howling night Aroused men to their windows- -but darkness met their sight. No one saw the legions with their burning, glowing eyes March from the depths, and dripping, out of the sea arise! From the cold depth of Science untouched by the golden sun From a loveless age of darkened hearts these ugly phantoms run. They spread their sulphurous poisons abroad through the little town Like zombie armies they return to the dark sea, sinking down. Bad dreams will plague all mankind, for, none with second sight Can find nor put these demons, dismembered into flight The mysteries that stir about the briny floor of thought Throw up dark monstrous forms that stalk the world of night, unsought. 12 THE WATERFALL I gazed upon the waterfall And felt my soul go forth (But not in Spring and not in Fall And not from South or North) Then I saw it wished to lie Upon the blue reflected sky And veer with cloud and dance with sun Where death and dreams like fishes run-- Just then the magic of the stream Chained me like a silver dream - Around my limbs, about my face Wound waters murmuring prayers of grace Upon life's flowing dream 1 feast Cascading like a bridal veil (But not from West nor yet from East Or Summer sun or Winter hail). But from a region with no name From where love goes from where love came As in the water -mirrored sky Behind our eyes enchantments lie. 13 OPHELIA Suddenly I feel the sea Not out there but here in me, Stone illusions wear away, In shallows of reality. Too tired to meet the roaring spray I drown a little every day But try to swim and float and care I cannot go --or wish to stay. The water deepens, darkens, drags, Life monotonously lags Lethean currents wind my hair On tangled, hidden weeds and crags, 14 FROM THE WATERS OF THE WORLD You are Narcissus risen from Greece I have seen the turn of your golden shoulder Before in my dreams - From the waters of the world Your own face glitters up to you Your lips part, your hands reach out You call to the wavering, sparkling self that is A reflection never to be caught Night falls upon the waters, myths, and men Grow blurred within its darkening depths The stars of Heaven point their lights Where one brief day ago your face, Cried for the empty image there. 15 UNBOUND Over the ragged line of distant earths, Hangs, high, the architectural blue of space, Full of tall furniture that floats in time Suns, clouds and comets, frictionless, As Magic Spells, returning Springtime casts, Buds, are her delicate fairytales, unfolding Perfumes, liberally to scatter far and wide Over the burning towns and countless graves. Earths flutter by us like bright autumn leaves, We ride on our own star forgetful, quite, Of the motion, motionless paradox Dancing like small worlds in mirror -highlights On innumerable bubbles, children blow, Only to watch them burst like fragile time. 16 VOICE OF PEGASUS I will not suffer harness Nor halter on my neck I will not let their burdens, My sky-born swiftness check. I will not plod their cold dark earth My heart, my wing, my hoof Were made to cleave the clouds above, My realms remain aloof. For if I tarry once too long Upon your sodden earth They'll chain me there and say I am A myth and have no worth. 17 LIKE BROKEN GLASS We heard their anger curling down the world, Stars fell with many sounds like broken glass Down pits of moonless night their anger hurled Into new graves, the broken dreams to pass. But through the opening eyelids of the dawn A spear of sunlight pierced the prison gloom. The maze of years converged and focused on The shadow of a cross - an empty tomb. Our sleeping, selfless dreams, twice born, awake, Rise from their graves and jails and resurrects, Above the shrouds and shibboleths, His Peace With everlasting brooding wings protects. 18 NOW IS FOREVER I went to the store with my dollar and found No bread, and the place was burned to the ground. Then I inquired when it all burned down And they said, "Do you mean the store or the town? " I said, "Well, the store, I mean, I guess, " They eyed me strangely and answered, "Yes, " "The store burned down ten years ago, And the town, in five will burn you know. " I thanked them kindly and hurriedly said, "Where am I? " they answered, "The town of the dead. " "And if you will turn on the road marked 'Past 1 You will come to the store that burned at last, And you will be able to buy your bread On that road marked 'Future 1 up ahead. " 19 WHO MOURNS FOR BELLS IN EDEN Who mourns the sweet mad music Eve betrayed, Bequeathing silence now to Eden's brides--? The winding cracks creep slowly over towers That house the trembling bells that ring no more; Like poison tendrils crawling through the night Live crevesses that move through darkened earth-- Manto groping fingers feel for crumbling truth And rusting faith; the wood gone hollow from The termites of the mind; This giant shell Shall feel the agebound Phoenix break its walls And shatter with a burning birth the bells. Silence has no temple roof, no dream-- ! Beneath the shade of wings like licking flames- - But music could have made a living hour Of wordless song, of labor and of love; And blown upon the Holy Tree a flower, White as a cloud to shield Humanity- - Who mourns for Bells in Eden grieves for three. 20 SMALLER THAN A MUSTARD SEED Millenium s have melted, Dropped from the cliff of time, A murderous miasma Of tears and blood and grime. But essences were simmering Within that witches 1 brew That formed the crystal, formed the seed Of prophet-promised "New. " It was so small they knew it not, Atomic in its size- - The drop of poison in the drink- - That demons blindly prize. 21 CROWN OF PAIN When first I courted Beauty- How she eluded me Silence met my deepest sigh Indifference, bended knee! Then through heavy, sleepy days, I knew she heard my prayer For, life gave a new child to us With flying golden hair. There in Time this wondrous thing In me quiescent, hidden, Waited for Love's great stone step At beauty's house, forbidden. If your wish is granted And Beauty turns your slave She adorns the bed of birth And triumphs past the grave. 22 THE PATIENT ONE It is God they hunger for Silent in the market place Alas they buy amiss their Glitter -bobs and lace-- Opaque eyes like children's, litten By the playthings scattered there- - Through pageantry and carnival, Circus , show and fair ! They buy so dear and sell so cheap, The moments running through the glass- He waits with lowered mist veiled eyes On every corner that they pass. 23 THE OTHER HALF The smell of sanctity we sample Sunday at church (for an example) Has its own peculiar flavor, Wrapped in priestly prim behavior. While taverns 1 wine- stale-halitosis Taken wisely in small doses, Its own low sanctities exude Convivial, though peasant- rude. Did you ever smell a tavern? Did you ever smell a church? Which lulls the mind, and stays the heart? Which makes the cortex lurch? x Do you prefer the odor Of a singing congregation Or tankard dregs that stimulate A spiral conversation? 24 UNITY In tangled jungles of the soul Something in us stalks its prey, Something flies on vulture wings Above dead dreams of yesterday. Past the farthest star in sight Something scans the whole night sky, Divinity dwells in us all How can we ever die? Something in us knows the shrine In every garden of the earth, Circles with the shining sun, Resurrects with every birth. A child within is always gay, And also in us something weeps, Something always is awake -- Yet a sleeping beauty sleeps. The flowering paradises grow Where desert wildernesses dwell, We are a whirling universe, Hosts to heaven and to hell. 25 A MANGER, A DOOR, A KEY How many times have I passed by The humble stable door As soft light flows from under it Where Magi, Him, adore. Upon a gate, unseen, within The knocking I have heard But door bells of the busy world My reaching hand deterred. Deep in my pocketbook 1 guard All jealously the key That opens these and other doors When I, reborn, am free. 26 HYMN TO IMANUEL God came to me on a big white horse And blue and gold His pennants How cosmic bright His stable door With starry earths for tenants. Great hoofs struck lightening from His path While myriad earths adoring Blew blossoming winds about His mane, Kept Love -Song -circles pouring To cast the immemorial Spell First and Last, Imanuel. He traveled lightly from afar (Oh warm life riding through me) Beloved, as the Traveler passed His flaming eyes- -they knew me! And as he tracked the Milky Way Upon His Wonder Steed, I saw the Star of Bethlehem Rise, again and lead. Then, radiant light, grown faint and far Too soon dropped out of sight A singing throng with ancient song Possessed all time that night Like falling stars their echoes fell "Imanuel -- Imanuel!" 27 WINDOWS TO THE LOVER And so have I The X-ray eye And though I'm buried deep I see the flowers above me grow In my mysterious sleep. I dwell now in the darker realm But hold the temple stones That hold the walls that hold the spires Deep-rooted in my bones. . Some men think This darker drink This world of moving people Grows as high as the tree swept sky Or the cross on the temple steeple. You may live under or over the sea Or over or under the cloud But bloomless gardens there will be And silence for a shroud. Unless you know the living heart, the living eye and ear Beauty seems but ugliness and love will be but fear, This world is but a door, the grave is but another The kings and flowers upon your path Are windows to the lover. 28 THE DIVINE MISER With unveiled eyes turned in, the naked soul Feeds on a starving food; stale drudgery- - The mops and brooms and dishpans "Daily News 11 Lean passion (sitting on the kitchen stool) Speaks hunger for lost Venus, minstrels, ruins- - Fear humming what or where to do, or go? Another presence whispers, "Martha- - Mary ! " Or "War between the temporal and eternal. " At last they hear the quiet footsteps come-- In legions to the Islands of Decision Where there will be that "Something Glory Clad" That offers pens and brushes, drums and says-- "Mary choose the better part. Please take This little bowl to catch the wasted blood. " 29 TENANTS OF DELINQUENCY We are made of music, fire, design-- (Our flames make burning butterflies, then die) We sat in little school room desks and learned The ABC's of ashes, old cocoons -- And watched Spring's sighing with a winged sound, Come through the window, Winter closed that fall, As he threw, spendthrift, wakening and young loves -- And no one spoke of God or Art or Peace (Fly inward out of sight, dead poets, too) Then came the stir of headlines big and black Limm fire upon the deep, dark walls of night, And marching men and girls in overalls, As cities, one by one snuffed out their lights. Now our children sit at little desks And no one mentions all the same old things- - Who will tell our children's children Life-- Wanders lonely through her vineyard now Afraid her trampled grapes are growing wild! 30 THE BRIGHTEST SHROUD I shall weave a bright flowered shroud That will sing to them after I die. I want to be covered with rhymes and songs On my journey into the sky. I 1 11 trade you a cold hard ruby For a tender warmth or verse We ! ll see whose jewel-box is fullest After the ride in the hearse. We f ll see whose coat is the brightest Whose song is the rich one or gay-- We'll see in the Queen of Cities That love alone will pay. 31 A 000 086 363 9