The parrot, screeching, flew out into the darkness,
Circled three times above the upturned faces
With a great whir of brilliant outspread wings,
...
We sit together and talk, or smoke in silence.
You say (but use no words) 'this night is passing
As other nights when we are dead will pass . . .'
Perhaps I misconstrue you: you mean only,
...
Behold me, in my chiffon, gauze, and tinsel,
Flitting out of the shadow into the spotlight,
And into the shadow again, without a whisper!-
...
LXII
I read the primrose and the sea
and remember nothing
...
Of what she said to me that night—no matter.
The strange thing came next day.
My brain was full of music—something she played me;
...
1
I am a house, says Senlin, locked and darkened,
Sealed from the sun with wall and door and blind.
...
1
Senlin sits before us, and we see him.
He smokes his pipe before us, and we hear him.
...
Red is the color of blood, and I will seek it:
I have sought it in the grass.
It is the color of steep sun seen through eyelids.
...
The half-shut doors through which we heard that music
Are softly closed. Horns mutter down to silence.
The stars whirl out, the night grows deep.
Darkness settles upon us. A vague refrain
...
The snow floats down upon us, mingled with rain...
It eddies around pale lilac lamps, and falls
Down golden-windowed walls.
We were all born of flesh, in a flare of pain,
...