The Visible, The Untrue

by

Hart Crane


Yes, I being

the terrible puppet of my dreams, shall

lavish this on you—

the dense mine of the orchid, split in two.

And the fingernails that cinch such

environs?

And what about the staunch neighbor tabulations,

with all their zest for doom?


I'm wearing badges

that cancel all your kindness. Forthright

I watch the silver Zeppelin

destroy the sky. To

stir your confidence?

To rouse what sanctions—?


The silver strophe...the canto

bright with myth...Such

distances leap landward without

evil smile. And, as for me...


The window weight throbs in its blind

partition. To extinguish what I have of faith.

Yes, light. And it is always,

always, always the eternal rainbow.

And it is always the day, the farewell day unkind.


(1933)



Go Back