Dream sequence

poem

Iris Shaw

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i.

Ten thousand faces I have worn

And loved to see my eyes in them:

O mirror do not look away

And tell me what I truly am,

For I have looked and cannot tell.

ii.

From higher spheres the stars pulled down

Some god-king's eyes, and then they wept

And tears of silver fire blotted out

The book of days incarnate, purple-inked,

Long-hoarded, treasured by the moon:

Then all the saints they went about the earth

and made again the book with golden pens.

iii.

The saints of minor sorrows paced

About my silent form

Each wore about him all his prayer

Honey-dark and clear

Against the which my sleeping wrongs

Lay like a devil, blind with fear.

iv.

Mother of muses, in me that song

Lies still, which I would have unfold;

Myself to myself justify, make whole

Disparate words and fumblings

At some high gate, which I

Hungry, blinded, do not know to see –

Make in me that song

I have half the tongue to sing, remember it to me.

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