POTD: Eternity & Abstinence, two poems by William Blake

Eternity

He who bends to himself a Joy
Doth the wingèd life destroy;
But he who kisses the Joy as it flies
Lives in Eternity's sunrise.

The look of love alarms,
Because it's fill'd with fire;
But the look of soft deceit
Shall win the lover's hire.

Soft deceit and idleness,
These are Beauty's sweetest dress.
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Abstinence Sows Sand

Abstinence sows sand all over
The ruddy limbs and flaming hair,
But Desire gratified
Plants fruits of life and beauty there.


评论/留言

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作者：Slappujudu　时间：2004-11-30 8:51:28

stick! i''m with you on this one! those shitheads, shut them up!! wish i could hear the song too. i do miss legends of the fall!! tristan n susanna!!!! Tristan he personally killed himself after samuel was gone. indians they do appeal to you if i remember correctly you wanna join their tribe haha! alrite, i''ll post some indian legends up.


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作者：Stickyjady　时间：2004-11-30 2:16:39

Abstinence is actually a poem selected for the literature curriculum this term. The adorable lecturer Dr Turner played us a folk song version of the poem, artist named Williamson (terrific musician, check him out. I still can''t find any free download though..). Very different from what we pop music addicts are usually exposed to. Had a very mysterious, melancholic, Oriental feel to it, slow, and deeply moving. The poem only has four lines and the song was a long one, repeating the lines with varying rhythms and emotional input. (I couldn't help get a bit irritated when patches of shitheads all over the lecture theatre started laughing at it) And in those moments I hallucinated, entering the opening scene of Legends of the Fall, the old Indian hunter murmuring intimate family stories, fragrant dry embers burning, cackling, the tent a weathered fiery brown, and the music seemed strangely apt there, in the background and foreground at once, soaking everything in a grainy, croaky solemnity that''s private possession to wanders and hunters only. "Abstinence sows sand all over/The ruddy limbs and flaming hair,/But Desire gratified/Plants fruits of life and beauty there."Somehow I think this wouldn''t be out of place at all if the song turns up somewhere in the film itself. Tristan and Susanna. The Ludlows, father and sons...

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作者：Slappujudu 时间：2004-11-28 10:50:13

absolutely great poems!!
abstinence sows sands, what a succinct and pictoral title.