"4;4 X 
 
The original of tliis book is in 
 tlie Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924022486066 
 
THE DOOR 
 
THE DOOR 
 
 BY 
 
 E. H. W. M. 
 
 C A^^^Xnry^a^^ ^t^S^-^it^ TH^mJ^.^^ 
 
 OXFORD : 
 B. H. BLACKWELL, BROAD STREET 
 
 LONDON : 
 SIMPKIN MARSHALL & CO. LIMITED 
 
 MCMXI 
 
 E.V. 
 
 eij 
 
Vos lupiferaeque tigres, vos leonum semina, 
 Vos aves intempestivae caecis cum serpentibus, 
 Vos imploro, ferte ferte fuscae noctis munera, 
 Ut vobiscum matris vestrae suppUcem potentiam : 
 Vosque adeste, sancti vultus antiquorum numinum, 
 Pan, Silvane, cum Sileno Faunis et silvestribus, 
 Diri montium custodes et paludum spiritus, 
 Omnes arborum puellae fiumiwumque Naiades, 
 Vosque mortuorum manes inter ossa conditi, 
 Vosque larvae, vos penates, vos ignota numina, 
 Mystica saltatione longum carpentes iter, 
 Invoco vos, Invoco vos, grandia in mysteria. 
 
I. 
 
 Standing within the church I saw 
 Bright on the window Adam and Eve 
 Sinning against the primal law, 
 The serpent smiling, to deceive 
 Their wits, with apple in his mouth : 
 (Ay, and the wind was blowing south). 
 
 These words were blazoned by his tongue- 
 " Ye twain shall be as gods and know 
 Good things from evil ; ye are young 
 And I am old ; to you I show 
 How God is trampled into nought.'' 
 (That lore, methinks, was dearly bought). 
 
 Adam stood distant from the tree, 
 And Eve was nigh the serpent's fang, 
 (Her goodman thus she might not see). 
 The serpent on the trunk did hang, 
 The apples all were gleaming red, 
 The colour of a rich man's bed. 
 
And round about were bird and beast 
 In grass adorned with purple flowers, 
 And made thereon unending feast 
 Of pomegranates from yellow bowers, 
 And mulberries, and a great fruit 
 That hung like mandrake from its root. 
 
 Around the tree there flowed a stream 
 
 Of double colour, red and blue, 
 
 With fishes flying like a dream, 
 
 Each painted in a different hue. 
 
 (And not a sound : methought the stones 
 
 Without were white like dead men's bones). 
 
 And gnats and gaudy buzzing flies 
 
 Swam round and round the greenwood tree, 
 
 And things above with greyish eyes 
 
 Were looking wisely down on me, 
 
 And demons stood on either side. 
 
 Their mouths and ears were open wide. 
 
 Behind the garden was a hill, 
 
 And on the hill a tower of stone 
 
 That seemed to rise and rise, until 
 
 By thunder it was overthrown ; 
 
 And BABEL TOWER was written by it, 
 
 That you should by the name descry it. 
 
Beside this wondrous Tower of Babel 
 (For so it seemed unto mine eye) 
 Young Cain was set on killing Abel 
 In a ploughed field, with no one by. 
 (By now, methought, the moon was high 
 Above the stones, within the sky). 
 
 And all about this tale of old 
 
 Were painted creatures blue and green, 
 
 With scarlet tongues and ears of gold, 
 
 The strangest I had ever seen ; 
 
 And at each corner, clear to view, 
 
 Crowns of mandragora and yew. 
 
 There was no light within the church. 
 
 For all was lighted by the moon : 
 
 Thrice the whole world you well might search. 
 
 And then you would not find it soon. 
 
 I'll tell you where it is, may be 
 
 You'll know it when the place you see. 
 
 The church was in a hollow set 
 Close to a hill with three white stones, 
 Beside whose foot two pathways met 
 Under a tree with crackling cones. 
 The land in agaric was rich 
 That served as food for many a witch. 
 
I read the painted glass aright, 
 
 And then I went upon the hill 
 
 And turned a stone ('twas twelve o' the night)- 
 
 The other stones were firm and still : 
 
 I turned the stone nine times, that I 
 
 Might laugh at the window bye and bye. 
 
 Once, twice, thrice — no sound : 
 Once, twice, thrice — again : 
 Once, twice, thrice — the ground 
 Heaves like a flower beneath the rain ; 
 Three times thrice have I turned the stone. 
 Now God is dead as a dead man's bone. 
 
 I'm a witch, a witch ; the window's gone 
 
 But demons stand there still. 
 
 The spaces of glass are stark and wan 
 
 As the stones upon the hill — 
 
 No more, no more ; my ragwort staff 
 
 Will bear me on : so laugh, so laugh. 
 
II. 
 
 Mannikin with the tail, 
 Upon the curtain climbing, 
 I would that I were rhyming 
 As fast as you can scale 
 Whate'er you will, Homunculus, 
 From cedar to ranunculus. 
 
 Mannikin with the tail. 
 You bobbing piece of magic, 
 I'll do a deed so tragic, 
 If but your power avail, 
 Betwixt the hours of twelve and one, 
 'Twill blot the light from oflF the sun. 
 
 Mannikin with the tail, 
 
 I'd gladly know who bore you, 
 The progeny before you, 
 What woman and what male : 
 Did Incubus beget you, babe. 
 Upon a chymist's astrolabe ? 
 
Mannikin with the tail, 
 Did Incubus beget you, 
 And thereon slily set you 
 Amid a pelting gale. 
 Just spawned, his fantasy to please, 
 From tincture of Hippomanes ? 
 
 Mannikin with the tail. 
 While Chymist unbelieving, 
 His wily soul deceiving 
 Upon th' Elixir's trail, 
 Could only hear a rainy sound 
 Upon his astrolabe rebound. 
 
 Mannikin with the tail, 
 
 Could Hermes self so dull him. 
 So mischievously gull him. 
 Sad fool of pot and pail, 
 As to pursue a quest forlorn 
 The very hour that you were born ? 
 
 Mannikin with the tail. 
 Abridge your easy dances 
 That hazard all our chances ; 
 For sure the spell is frail 
 Whose binding words be only writ 
 After the owl and darkness flit. 
 
II 
 
 Mannikin with the tail, 
 The labour's almost ended 
 By which I'll be defended 
 From neighbour Gorbo's rail ; 
 For you shall take this parchment roll 
 And pass it o'er his sleeping poll. 
 
 Mannikin with the tail, 
 A pox upon your swinging ! 
 The hour is well nigh ringing, 
 And shall my magic fail ? 
 So be no sound from curtain heard 
 Whenas I add the final wordl 
 
 Mannikin with the tail, 
 Upon the curtain climbing, 
 I now have done the rhyming 
 Which he will sore bewail : 
 Take it — and we shall chant his plight 
 By the new grave to-morrow night. 
 
12 
 
 III. 
 
 It fell upon a Friday 
 
 That I was much afeard, 
 I came on Shabanezar 
 
 Tweaking an old man's beard. 
 
 The old man never saw him, 
 
 But dropped like a stone, 
 So that my Shabanezar 
 
 And I were left alone. 
 
 Said I to Shabanezar 
 
 " Why mar his strength of limb ? " 
 Said he " Our lord and master 
 
 Hath sudden need of him." 
 
 He prowled abroad at midnight 
 And showed a yellow fang, 
 
 Which, for your better credit, 
 Over the door doth hang. 
 
13 
 
 IV. 
 
 " Again the dance ? O pity me ! 
 
 Fan away this heat and sound. 
 I am faint with jollity ; 
 
 Lead aside — Another round 
 Will droop these silks : The dizzy whirl 
 
 Is fooling all my locks awry ; 
 I prithee bear a tumbled girl 
 Out of the cry." 
 
 " O rarer than the Colchian queen, 
 Sustain thy breathless face ; 
 
 Mistake not, timid Hermeline, 
 This languor crowns thy grace. 
 
 For not Fiorina's self, who dances 
 With Franciscus, can uncover 
 
 Eyes so deep and plumed with fancies 
 To her lover." 
 
" Brother Felix, know your praise 
 
 Hath prevailed o'er the heat ; 
 Step with me : how softly plays 
 
 The silvern pipe again to greet 
 Our union with the dance ! how swift 
 
 Franciscus doth Fiorina twirl ! 
 Should you bear me so, a gift 
 Were yours — this curl." 
 
 " Loveliest, I am content 
 
 With thy promise : lean on me. 
 We will go the way we went 
 
 'Mid the dancers. No degree 
 Of Beauty can outbid the hand 
 
 That sways in mine — Would'st swifter fly? 
 Think — 'tis thou and Love command. 
 Never L" 
 
 " Faster, prithee, faster, brother. 
 
 See, Fiorina mocks our speed, 
 Bids me halt and choose another ; 
 
 She shall rue the mock indeed. 
 Circle till the room's a globe 
 
 Overflecked with lucent hue, 
 And the spangles of my robe 
 Winking dew." 
 
15 
 
 " Pause, I prithee, let me dream 
 Of the chance that bore me hither 
 
 Mid distress, like sunny gleam 
 Thro' a bunch of leaves that wither : 
 
 Ay and 'twas despite my prayers — 
 Rightly should I hold thee sin. 
 
 Thee with all thy perfumed airs 
 And magic din. 
 
 " Often would Franciscus pray 
 
 With me by a crucifix 
 (Tremble not), but came alway 
 
 Hints of love our vows to mix ; 
 Till upon a Sunday eve 
 
 Thou and thy Fiorina sped 
 To our cells and bade us leave 
 Griefs and bed. 
 
 " So you led us to this room, 
 Unbeknown to mortal sense, 
 
 Far removed from cloistered gloom, 
 Abbot- — beads — and penitence. 
 
 Still we know not what you be. 
 Save that every Sunday night 
 
 Here you run for jollity 
 Till the light." 
 
i6 
 
 " Soon, O Felix, 'twill be known, 
 
 But the time is not yet come, 
 When I have the secret shown. 
 
 Then will you be striken dumb. 
 Meantime let us dance again. 
 
 Up and down the chamber go, 
 Like to drops of leaping rain 
 
 Or melted snow." 
 
 " Hermeline ! abate the measure 
 
 For my eyes are all aflame ; 
 We have had enough of pleasure, 
 
 Prithee lead me whence I came." 
 " Lover, look : the walls are reeling. 
 
 Lamps are dimming one by one. 
 And the floor will touch the ceiling 
 When all's done." 
 
 "O thou dazzling whiteness, say 
 What forbodes that indrawn lip." 
 
 " See, Franciscus will not stay. 
 But with Love away doth slip." 
 
 " Clutch not — O this earthy smell 
 
 Chokes— What art thou ? " " Devil I, 
 
 And Fiorina : Stark in Hell 
 At dawn you lie." 
 
17 
 
 She sits a maiden honey pale 
 Amid the violet-vistaed meads, 
 Encompassed by the clinging reeds 
 That falter from their stalks so frail. 
 
 Passion hath left her visage wan, 
 
 And tears have rent her cheeks of snow, 
 
 Yet still abides the hazel glow 
 
 Within those eyes whose peace hath gone. 
 
 Her robes with sad emblazonry 
 Are burnished, and within their folds 
 In fingers long and white she holds 
 The poppies of Persephone. 
 
 And as the spirits pass her throne. 
 She stretches forth the lethal flower 
 With eager hand as wedding dower 
 To him who hails her as his own. 
 
i8 
 
 But as she riseth with the word 
 Of dalliance upon her lips, 
 They flit, as in the moon's eclipse 
 Flitters some lone enchanted bird. 
 
 For she is one — Pandemos named — 
 Whom all have battled for in life, 
 But, parted from the world of strife, 
 No loyal soul hath ever claimed. 
 
 She gazeth at each passing shade. 
 Clasping the faded bloom once more 
 Unto her bosom, inly sore 
 With all the wounds her love hath made. 
 
 Until the swift suffusing mist 
 Swathes the sad fields with purple veil, 
 The reed bank and the lady pale. 
 And all who flee her fateful tryst. 
 
19 
 
 VI. 
 
 Tallion by the fire 
 
 Gazeth at a coal ; 
 
 What is his desire ? 
 
 Can it be a soul ? 
 Coal is red and he is black ; 
 Tell me Tallion what you lack. 
 
 Tallion in the fire 
 
 Seeketh for a soul, 
 
 This is his desire, 
 
 For he'll ne'er be whole 
 While his body, all so black. 
 Yet a spark of light doth lack. 
 
 Tallion, can a soul 
 
 Move within the fire. 
 
 Or a burning coal 
 
 Be a heart's desire ? 
 Soul you have, though fire you lack. 
 Underneath your fur so black, 
 
Tallion presseth nigh'r 
 
 To the coal : O back ! 
 
 You are not for fire, 
 
 Nor is red for black : 
 Not till earth has ceased to roll 
 Shall these twain be made one whole. 
 
 Twain are red and black, 
 
 Twain are you and fire ; 
 
 Do not wisdom lack, 
 
 Yield not to desire, 
 Else you perish frame and soul ; 
 'Cinders black your funeral dole. 
 
 Thus in death you lack 
 
 All that you desire. 
 
 And will yet be black 
 
 On your funeral pyre ; 
 O be wise, restrain your soul 
 And forget the burning coal. 
 
 Are you on the track 
 
 Of a secret dire. 
 
 To be won, alack. 
 
 Only in the fire ? 
 Tallion hath some hellish troll 
 Lit this longing in your soul ? 
 
21 
 
 Hath some Hellish troll 
 
 Kindled your desire ? 
 
 Tallion — on my soul — 
 
 Leap not into fire : 
 Hark ye 1 I will hold you back, 
 I would not my Tallion lack. 
 
 Mercy on my soul, 
 
 Is the room afire ? 
 
 God — the burning coal 
 
 Mounteth high'r and high'r, 
 Tallion, Tallion, O come back ! 
 — Now once more the room is black. 
 
 What is by the fire ? 
 
 Tallion, or his soul ? 
 
 'Tis his skin, like wire 
 
 Taut, and furred, and whole : 
 Tallion's fled, he'll ne'er come back, 
 But hath left his catskin black. 
 
 Memento TaUionis catovum Regis. 
 
22 
 
 VII. 
 
 I HEARD a voice from the cliff, 
 
 " Depart, O man, from my dwelling " ; 
 
 'Twas evening, and the tide 
 
 Over the beach was welling ; 
 
 Afar at sea a' lonely skifiF 
 
 Lay floating ; I, astride, 
 
 In the cold malignant light 
 
 Hung o'er a twisted ammonite. 
 
 Whether it was the voice 
 
 Of Pan, who on the mountains 
 
 Bids all the herds rejoice. 
 
 And in the pleasant fountains 
 
 Sinketh the goat and seemeth man — 
 
 Whether it was the voice of Pan 
 
 I know not ; but again 
 
 It sang in my ears like autumn rain, 
 
 " Depart, depart, O man " — and I 
 
 Thinking perchance it was a devil 
 
 Holding alone his twilight revel. 
 
23 
 
 Stood waiting for the bluish light 
 That shines when evil shapes are nigh ; 
 But only once more came the cry, 
 " Depart," and about me closed the night, 
 With a sense of the half corporeal things 
 That lie where only the night bird sings — 
 And the sudden flap of a seagull's wings, 
 And I departed. 
 
JANUA CLAUSA EST. 
 
PS 3515.U428D6"""''"^ '■"'"^ 
 .ThS.tloor,