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...en the fountain's falling blade
hangs in the air unbroken, and says: Wait!

VIII

Text into text, text out of text. Pretext
for scholars or for scholiasts. The living word
springs from the dying, as leaves in spring
spring from dead leaves, our birth from death.
And all is text, is holy text. Sheepfold Hill
becomes its name for us, anti yet is still
unnamed, unnamable, a book of trees
before it was a book for men or sheep,
before it was a book for words. W...Read more of this...

...tand myself. Refer this to the gods 
Whose gift alone it is! which, shall I dare 
(All pride apart) upon the absurd pretext 
That such a gift by chance lay in my hand, 
Discourse of lightly or depreciate? 
It might have fallen to another's hand: what then? 
I pass too surely: let at least truth stay! 

And next, of what thou followest on to ask. 
This being with me as I declare, O king, 
My works, in all these varicoloured kinds, 
So done by me, accepted so by men-- 
...Read more of this...

...br>
Begin again and again the never-attainable praising;
remember: the hero lives on; even his downfall was
merely a pretext for achieving his final birth.
But Nature spent and exhausted takes lovers back
into herself as if there were not enough strength
to create them a second time. Have you imagined
Gaspara Stampa intensely enough so that any girl
deserted by her beloved might be inspired
by that fierce example of soaring objectless love
and might say to h...Read more of this...

...new again
the praise you cannot attain; remember:
the hero lives on and survives; even his downfall
was for him only a pretext for achieving
his final birth. But nature, exhausted, takes lovers
back into itself, as if such creative forces could never be
achieved a second time.
Have you thought of Gaspara Stampa sufficiently:

that any girl abandoned by her lover may feel
from that far intenser example of loving:
"Ah, might I become like her!" Should not their oldest
...Read more of this...

...n, garden-herbs and fruit,
The late and early roses from his wall,
Or conies from the down, and now and then,
With some pretext of fineness in the meal
To save the offence of charitable, flour
From his tall mill that whistled on the waste. 

But Philip did not fathom Annie's mind:
Scarce could the woman when he came upon her,
Out of full heart and boundless gratitude
Light on a broken word to thank him with.
But Philip was her children's all-in-all;
From distant corne...Read more of this...

...
And turn your vengeance on the common foe, 
Yon treacherous vessel and her godless crew! 
Let never traders with false pretext fair 
Set on your shores again their wicked feet: 
With interdict and indignation meet 
Repel them, and with fire and sword pursue! 
Avarice, the white cadaverous fiend, is there, 
Who spreads his toils accursed wide and far, 
And for his purveyor calls the demon War....Read more of this...

...,
Equivocations, and the thoughts which dwell
In Janus-spirits—the significant eye
Which learns to lie with silence—the pretext
Of Prudence, with advantages annexed— 
The acquiescence in all things which tend,
No matter how, to the desired end— 
All found a place in thy philosophy.
The means were worthy, and the end is won— 
I would not do by thee as thou hast done!...Read more of this...

...g he asks,
And hide it not, but say: Rustum is here!
He will not yield indeed, nor quit our foes,
But he will find some pretext not to fight,
And praise my fame, and proffer courteous gifts,
A belt or sword perhaps, and go his way.
And on a feast-tide, in Afrasiab's hall,
In Samarcand, he will arise and cry:
`I challenged once, when the two armies camp'd
Beside the Oxus, all the Persian lords
To cope with me in single fight; but they
Shrank, only Rustum dared; then he and...Read more of this...

...the Scottish throne,
     So faithless and so ruthless known,
     Now hither comes; his end the same,
     The same pretext of sylvan game.
     What grace for Highland Chiefs, judge ye
     By fate of Border chivalry.
     Yet more; amid Glenfinlas' green,
     Douglas, thy stately form was seen.
     This by espial sure I know:
     Your counsel in the streight I show.'
     XXIX.

     Ellen and Margaret fearfully
     Sought comfort in each other's eye,
   ...Read more of this...

...derness for Guinevere, 
Had suffered, or should suffer any taint 
In nature: wherefore going to the King, 
He made this pretext, that his princedom lay 
Close on the borders of a territory, 
Wherein were bandit earls, and caitiff knights, 
Assassins, and all flyers from the hand 
Of Justice, and whatever loathes a law: 
And therefore, till the King himself should please 
To cleanse this common sewer of all his realm, 
He craved a fair permission to depart, 
And there defend h...Read more of this...

...us at our books, and marred our peace, 
Masked like our maids, blustering I know not what 
Of insolence and love, some pretext held 
Of baby troth, invalid, since my will 
Sealed not the bond--the striplings! for their sport!-- 
I tamed my leopards: shall I not tame these? 
Or you? or I? for since you think me touched 
In honour--what, I would not aught of false-- 
Is not our case pure? and whereas I know 
Your prowess, Arac, and what mother's blood 
You draw from, fight; yo...Read more of this...

..., bright
With serpentine and syenite,
Steps, with five other generals,
That simultaneously take snuff,
For each to have pretext enough
To kerchiefwise unfurl his sash
Which, softness' self, is yet the stuff
To hold fast where a steel chain snaps,
And leave the grand white neck no gash?
Waring, in Moscow, to those rough
Cold northern natures borne, perhaps,
Like the lambwhite maiden dear
From the circle of mute kings,
Unable to repress the tear,
Each as his sceptre down he fli...Read more of this...

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