| Harriet Monroe, ed. (1860–1936). Poetry: A Magazine of Verse. 1912–22. | | | | Fragment XXXVI | | By H. D. |
| | From “Hesperides”
| | I know not what to do: |
| My mind is divided. |
| Sappho |
I KNOW not what to do— | |
| My mind is reft. | |
| Is song’s gift best? | |
| Is love’s gift loveliest? | |
| I know not what to do, | 5 |
| Now sleep has pressed | |
| Weight on your eyelids. | |
| |
| Shall I break your rest, | |
| Devouring, eager? | |
| Is love’s gift best?— | 10 |
| Nay, song’s the loveliest. | |
| Yet, were you lost, | |
| What rapture could I take from song?— | |
| What song were left? | |
| |
| I know not what to do: | 15 |
| To turn and slake | |
| The rage that burns, | |
| With my breath burn | |
| And trouble your cool breath— | |
| So shall I turn and take | 20 |
| Snow in my arms, | |
| (Is love’s gift best?) | |
| Yet flake on flake | |
| Of snow were comfortless, | |
| Did you lie wondering, | 25 |
| Wakened yet unawake. | |
| |
| Shall I turn and take | |
| Comfortless snow within my arms, | |
| Press lips to lips that answer not, | |
| Press lips to flesh | 30 |
| That shudders not nor breaks? | |
| |
| Is love’s gift best?— | |
| Shall I turn and slake | |
| All the wild longing? | |
| Oh, I am eager for you! | 35 |
| As the Pleiads shake | |
| White light in whiter water, | |
| So shall I take you? | |
| |
| My mind is quite divided; | |
| My minds hesitate, | 40 |
| So perfect matched | |
| I know not what to do. | |
| Each strives with each: | |
| As two white wrestlers, | |
| Standing for a match, | 45 |
| Ready to turn and clutch, | |
| Yet never shake | |
| Muscle or nerve or tendon; | |
| So my mind waits | |
| To grapple with my mind— | 50 |
| Yet I am quiet, | |
| I would seem at rest. | |
| |
| I know not what to do. | |
| Strain upon strain, | |
| Sound surging upon sound, | 55 |
| Makes my brain blind; | |
| As a wave line may wait to fall, | |
| Yet waiting for its falling | |
| Still the wind may take, | |
| From off its crest, | 60 |
| White flake on flake of foam, | |
| That rises | |
| Seeming to dart and pulse | |
| And rend the light, | |
| So my mind hesitates | 65 |
| Above the passion | |
| Quivering yet to break, | |
| So my mind hesitates above my mind | |
| Listening to song’s delight. | |
| |
| I know not what to do. | 70 |
| Will the sound break, | |
| Rending the night | |
| With rift on rift of rose | |
| And scattered light? | |
| Will the sound break at last | 75 |
| As the wave hesitant, | |
| Or will the whole night pass | |
| And I lie listening awake? | | | | |
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