[LIBRARY UNivcRyr. OF CALI >fNIA ! SAN P/e H3 FATHER NOAH BY THE SAME WRITER THE BELLS OF PARADISE THE ART OF NIJINSKY A BOOK OF WHIMSIES (With Keith Henderson) FA r HER NOAI AND OT1 ER FANCIES GEOFFREY WHITWORTH LONDON CHATTO fcf WINDUS 1918 TO A FRIEND AT THE FRONT jl/fy DEAR K., A state of war is little favourable to letter writing such, at any rate, has been our own experience and in dedicating to you this booklet of poems I shall be sending you news of someone from whom you have not heard for a long while. Certainly it were more fitting had the procedure been reversed. For what news have we who stay at home and dream of history to tell to those of you out there who are moulding history daily in your own flesh and blood ? Nevertheless, one trusts that the mind of even a civilian may, on occasion, find its contact with reality ; and you, at least, will not be too censorious with what is written here, reminded as you must find yourself I hope not quite unpleasantly of days that are gone. Several of these verses you have seen before relics, for the most part, of a time when young emotion was wont to express itself most vocally in terms of an immemorial regret. Here is no news of war-lime England ! For vouth has now no truck with sentiment, and our brave Lieutenants have doubtless learnt to pluck tht rose with all the less compunction that their gallantry is obliged to race the swift finale of a ten days' leave. No. These fancies of mine are ' other fancies ' with a vengeance, and if you are now kind enough to re-read them, it can be only for that pleasure which old friends feel when they meet again after long absence, and regale themselves with many a ' Do you remember T Hardly more in tune, you will say, with interests of the moment is a trifle like ' The Little Ballet,' which dates so manifestly from the period when Russia had come to be the Mecca of our esthetic enthusiasm. Politically, it may be an open question whether Lenin or Czar Nicholas himself has proved the crueller to that disastrous land. But as the nursery of a Nijinsky or Karsarvina, there can surely be no question of our attachment to the Old Regime. And yet, how dare one even think of such things now, when for Ballet we are offered you, my dear A'., as an actor, I as a spectator this incredible Dance of Death f As for ' Father Noah,' that was written only last year ; but already it has been criticized, by some who have read it in manuscript, as too simple, loo primitively remote, for the taste of the hour. And I, in my innocence, had feared it more than a shade too topical ! The truth is, I suspect, that these amiable critics were disconcerted to find God spoken of and thought of as someone actually real as real as the butcher, the baker, the candle-stick maker, or the man next door. I am sorry. But, as you know, my dear K., it is thus I have been always taught to think of Him, and these old illusions die hard. For the rest, I will be silent, leaving my little volume to beguile you as it may, and what is more important to bring you from beyond the din of battle a whisper of every good and happy greeting from yours ever, G. A. W. Easter, 1918. vi NOTE SOME of the poems in the latter section of this book have already appeared in To-Day, Art and Letters, and TJie Open Window. Vlll CONTENTS PAGE FATHER NOAH 13 OTHER FANCIES: THE INVOCATION - - 45 NYMPH'S AWAKENING - - 46 A BOY SINGS IN THE MORNING - - 47 DANTE'S DREAM - - 48 NEIGE D'ANTAN - - 49 FROM RONSARD - - 5 SHADOWS - - 51 TRAMP'S HONEYMOON - - 52 THE SECRET - - 53 THE OLD LADIES - - 54 SIC TRANSIT - 55 A LOVE REJECTED - 56 LILY ... - 57 THE RED HOUSE - - 58 LOVE LIES BLEEDING - - - - 60 LE SPECTRE DE LA ROSE 6 1 THE LITTLE BALLET - - 62 DINARD : 1913 - - 67 A BALLAD OF BLOIS - 69 THE MONK OF FIESOLE - - - - JI VENETIAN ECHO - - - - - 72 LISTEN - - - 73 THE BELLS OF PARADISE - - 74 ENVOI - - - - - -76 ix FATHER NOAH Darkness in the Hold of the Ark, and Silence, except for the sound of creaking timbers as the great ship heaves to the swell, or for the cries and roars of the animals heard remote and muffled as though through walls of wood. A sense of suffocation. And then, from above, the flickering light of a lantern, and the figure of Noah himself, descending warily by the ladder which leads from a trap door in the roof of the Hold, vertically to the floor. He is very old. THE VOICE OF A CHILD Grandfather ! NOAH Come, come. It is quite safe. You cannot fall, And if you do I am here. THE CHILD'S VOICE Grandfather, I am frightened ! NOAH Come, Let me guide your feet with my hand, And do not look downwards. Keep your eyes fixed straight in front of you. THE CHILD'S VOICE Oh! 13 And now the figure of a girl, about nine years old, is seen following Noah, slowly and fearfully down the ladder. NOAH Come, come. What will your mother say When she hears that her little Rachel has been down into the Hold of the Ark Where no one has ever been save I, your grand- father, And your father Japheth, And your two uncles, Shem and Ham ! Silence, while they come at last to the ground. RACHEL Oh, how glad I feel ! NOAH You see there was nothing to be afraid of. RACHEL But what a queer musty smell ! One would say that we were in a cave of the mountains, Where the sun never shines, And that has been sealed against the air of heaven since the sixth day of creation ! Why is it so big, Grandfather, and nothing in it ? NOAH There are many things in the Hold my child. He turns the lantern so that its rays illumine the dark comers. '4 All the stores of the Ark. There is the corn in that great bin And maize ; Six hundred barrels of maize And the hay piled up. Provender for man and beast. See, here is the white flour which I came for. I must take back a full measure. And he begins to ladle out the flour from the bin into a measure of horn that hangs from his neck. Rachel, meanwhile, goes peering aboitt into the dark corners of the Hold. RACHEL What is this, Grandfather, In this sack ? NOAH Seeds, my child, For the birds for the Doves and the Ravens. RACHEL And here ? NOAH Fresh earth for the worms. RACHEL Grandfather . . . NOAH Yes, my child ? RACHEL The raven That you sent away from the Ark when it rested upon the pinnacle of the mountain Returns not. Nor the dove, My pretty dove that nestled against me, Cooing as if she had found her mate. Oh, Grandfather, sometimes I cannot help crying to myself for the thought of her. Think you that she is safe, out there, Alone upon the face of the waters ? NOAH God careth for her. RACHEL When was she set free ? Five days ago, was it not ? NOAH It was that day of the great wind, When the Ark shifted from the pinnacle of the mountain ; And ever since we have drifted on Towards the rising of the sun. RACHEL I pray to God every night for my dove. Silence again, while Noah goes on filling his measure of flour, and Rachel continues her survey of the Hold. Now she has wandered into a far comer, where the shadows almost hide her from sight. Grandfather . . . 16 NOAH My child ? RACHEL What is this ? This great ring, And the chain that hangs from the wall ? Noah lets the lid of the flow-bin fall with a bang. NOAH Rachel ! What are you doing there ? Drop that chain at once, I say ! RACHEL 1 am sorry, grandfather. NOAH No, but I must not blame you. How should you have known. . . . RACHEL Known what, Grandfather ? NOAH It is the bung-hole of the Ark. This chain is fastened into the midst of a great wedge, do you see, that is kept in its place by ties of maple wood. If the wedge were to become loosened, Or if it were drawn away. . . . RACHEL Yes, Grandfather ? NOAH The waters would flow in RACHEL And the Ark would fill with water ? NOAH It would fill with water. RACHEL And the Ark would sink to the bottom of the sea ? NOAH With all that therein is. Every morning I come down into the Hold To see that the wedge is secure ; For the whole world that God created is within the walls of this Ark, Both small and great and creeping thing, And I am the father of all, And it is by the will of God that I keep them safe. RACHEL And is it not your will also, Grandfather ? NOAH How dare man That is but a creature Measure his will by the will of the Lord God that made him ? RACHEL Did God well to make the world, Grandfather ? 18 NOAH Hush, child. You do not understand. Shall the clay judge the potter, Or the child the father that begat him ? RACHEL If / were God . . . But now a commotion begins to be heard from the direction of the roof, and three robed men are seen following one another hastily down the ladder. They gesticulate excitedly and all talk at once. THE THREE MEN No, no. Yes, yes, I say. No, No ! That is not the truth ! It is the truth ! Lies ! Truth ! You should die for this ! Justice ! Injustice most ashamed ! Curses ! To the death, I sware it ! You said so! Never. You did ! No, No ! Yes, yes, I say ! NOAH Hush, hush, my children. What is this that you dispute among yourselves ? Have I not already enough to bear, Have we not all of us enough to bear, Without adding to our burden by these wrangles of the nursery ? ONE OF THE THREE This is no wrangle of the nursery, Father, As you yourself will agree, When you come to know the cause. Your son Shem here . SHEM Do not listen to him, Father. Rage has turned him mad. NOAH If Ham may not speak, Why should I the rather listen to thee, Shem ? SHEM I am the first-born son. HAM But I am the one aggrieved. NOAH I will listen to neither of you. But Japheth, If so be that the quarrel is none of his, Let him make known the cause thereof. Speak Japheth. RACHEL (who has been standing by, affrighted, not knowing what to do) Father . . . She runs over to Japheth and puts her hand in his. JAPHETH So be it, brothers. I will unfold the matter ; And by these lips shall nothing but the truth be spoken, And neither of you two shall be advantaged the one over the other, Unless it be by the truth. 20 But first of all let the little maid depart, For it is not meet that she should hear How her uncles dispute together over her tender- ness. NOAH Lead her away. Japheth leads Rachel to the foot of the ladder, and encourages her to ascend. Then he returns, and stands in the midst before his father. Speak now, my son. JAPHETH I know not well how to begin, Father. Nevertheless, According to my promise and my obedience will I strive to make all things plain. The matter brews these many days. In the darkness of the night, and in the noonday silences, As we have lain, my brothers and I, by the window that looks upon the North, We have talked of many things. And oftentimes have we harboured the thought that our fate will be to die here in the Ark, And my brothers have bemoaned their fate with many lamentations. But I have told them that already I have lived too long, Day in, day out, toiling as a young man, Tending the flocks of my father, And loving the woman that was given me to wife, 21 Having joy to see her big with my young, And then to behold my child, My little Rachel, Growing up tall and straight and laughing in the sunshine. And withal this sorrow, ,, That no male thing has been given me for the guerdon of my loins, And my wife now nears the limit of child-bearing. NOAH Well do I know your sorrow, Japheth, For your thought is not hid from me. Yet how pertaineth this to your present trouble ? JAPHETH It is even the whole cause And the whole meaning thereof. NOAH How so, Japheth ? But Japheth makes no answer. Come. Fear not to speak your mind. For knowing not all, Think you that I can give right judgment ? But still Japheth is silent. SHEM Look you, Father ; It is even as I said. Our brother cannot tell you this tale. His shame hath gotten the better of him Even though the affair be none of his. 22 Let me, therefore, take up the tale where he has dropped it, For the matter is between me and my brother Ham, And before God, I have no shame in it ! And if my tongue play me into false witness, Let Ham take up the telling on my behalf. Will that quieten thy scruples, brother, for thee? HAM Be it so, brother. SHEM Know then, Father, that to us, Casting our minds forward to the days that shall be when the flood is ended, And the Ark sinks once again to the surface of the land, It has appeared to us well That we should consider the division of our inherit- ance of the earth Which shall then be open to us. For in the old days It was your inheritance alone that was to be divided, According to the law of our fathers, and of thy will. But now shall the whole earth be ours, , And that is a great thing, Father, A mighty inheritance, One that may justly give cause for thought and counsel. NOAH And is not the whole world wide enough But that my three sons must dispute among themselves How it may be divided ? 2 3 SHEM We dispute not, Father. But reason itself forbids that we should not con- sider How it shall be in that day When our children rise up before us, And demand of us to know What things are theirs. HAM Indeed, Father, this is the question, And this alone, That brings us here for judgment. For Shem, Being the eldest son, Affirms that his eldest son should be betrothed to Rachel his cousin, the daughter of Japheth, That thereby the portion of Japheth Should come at length unto the seed of Shem. SHEM And that is just and right and according to the Law. HAM Nay, brother, Herein it is that you are wrong. For already I, Being the second son, Have but a meagre share beside thine. And surely it is but fair and honest That the portion of Japheth should be added to my lowly portion, Rather than that it should go to swell thy portion Which is already overgrown. 24 SHEM Would you impute, then, that the portion of my inheritance is greater than my desert ? HAM I impute nothing, brother. SHEM Ah, but your thoughts are envious. I know them. And did I not overhear you in your prayers Making petition to God That the wife of Japheth might be barren of male issue, Lest a son should be born to him And all your evil designs be brought to naught ? HAM What are my prayers to you ? Spy! And if I would, I also might tell a tale Of your own prayers And of a sacrifice you made . . . NOAH Let be, let be. Must the ears of your father be hurt by a tale of such baseness ? And you, Japheth, Do you keep silence against this wrong that is done ? JAPHETH I am silent, father, For I have nothing to say. 2 5 And after all, What is a man's daughter But a marriage portion to be bought by the highest bidder, Or taken by force of him that proves he has the right of law ? Nevertheless Maybe the day will come when Rachel shall be avenged, And when I, her father, shall laugh my brethren to scorn. For here now Shem boasteth that he is the eldest son. And Ham boasteth of his Canaan. But let him beware, I say, Lest Canaan this son of his be cursed with a terrible curse, And lest I Even I Be blessed with stalwart boys that shall inherit the land in his despite. Let him beware, I say. Let him beware . . . SHEM Our brother hath an evil tongue it seems ! HAM I heed him not. Let him persuade another wife to his bed Ere he comes prating thus to me of sons ! NOAH Peace, Peace. To every man his own sorrow. 26 And now I will hear no more. Yet since you, my sons, have come to me for judgment, This is the thing that I judge. You are to blame, Shem and Ham, For you have done evil, Disputing together to your own hurt. But Japheth is blameless ; And his daughter, The virgin Rachel, A virgin shall remain till such time as she is ripe for marriage. Then let her choose her own husband for herselt, Even him that best pleases her, Whether it be of the sons of Shem or of the sons of Ham. And let none gainsay her. This is my judgment. SHEM But Father . . . HAM But Father . . . NOAH Enough. Get you gone. I have spoken. Noah makes a gesture of dismissal, and his sons cower back before him. No, Japheth, Stay you behind ; I have a word for you alone. 2 7 Japheth comes back into the middle of the Hold, while his two brothers begin to mount the Iadder 1 gathering up tlieiv robes about them. Come nearer, Japheth, My latest born, My best beloved. They are alone now. Have you nothing to say to me ? JAPHETH For your judgment in this matter I thank you. NOAH Is your mind eased, And is your sorrow comforted ? JAPHETH For Rachel's sake, I am glad. But for myself I care not. And why should I care ? What am I, father, but a man ? And hath it not already repented the Lord God that he ever made man ? Verily, if we were beings of sense, Think you that we should be now here ? Should we not rather have lain face downwards upon the fields at home, While the great rain fell upon us and consumed us utterly, With all the rest of creation ? And found peace amid the deep waters ? 28 NOAH So you too, Japheth ! Into your heart also has the iron entered. And here in this Ark that was builded to keep alive the praise of God from all his creatures, Even here is nothing but the bitterness of despair. JAPHETH Shem and Ham despair not. NOAH Their lusts preserve them. JAPHETH And you, Father, You do not despair. NOAH Little you know of me, son Less, maybe, than I know of you. JAPHETH But you are he that encouraged us all from the beginning, And bade us build the Ark, And kept high our spirit with your prophecy of better days. So if your hopefulness be gone, What weapon remains against despair ? NOAH I know, I know, Japheth. But you need not rebuke me, 29 For continually do I fight within myself This battle with despair. And I revive the memory of youthful days, When all the world seemed beautiful, And love itself was enough ; And then the middle years of toil and increase ; And thereafter the latter years When I would sit before the door of the tent And see you, my children, growing up around me, Learning love in your turn, And the happiness of toil. And calling to mind such things I would say that life was good. Yet now what is left ? I am old and the world is overwhelmed, And my sons are not as the generous men of old, but are filled with malice and greed. And the animals wax hungry, And just as my sons, Lusting after many possessions, Have fallen into hatred one against the other, Even so also they, The lion and the eagle, the wolf and the hawk, Fall to devour their fellows in the darkness of the ship. Thus you may see how the world, If ever we come back to it alive, Shall be given over to the beasts that slay and devour. For gentleness is dead, And all the kindness that was in the earth. JAPHETH Poor Father ! NOAH Well may you pity me ; You are stronger than I now. And this, indeed, is the reason why I have desired to speak with you. JAPHETH What do you want of me, Father ? NOAH I would ask you a question. It is a simple question, And you must answer truthfully. DO YOU DESIRE THAT THIS WORLD SHOULD GO ON ? JAPHETH DO I DESIRE THAT THE WORLD SHOULD GO ON ? NOAH If you had the power, Like God, To unmake the world If you held in the hollow of your hand the whole creation, What would you do ? Speak. You are a young man, You should know. JAPHETH But no one could destroy the world. NOAH You think^not ? He beckons Japheth to follow him over to the day k corner where is the bung of the A rk. You see that chain . . . JAPHETH I see it. NOAH On that chain hangs the fate of all created life. JAPHETH Father . . . NOAH One morning, Japheth, When I descended, as is my custom, for the daily measure of flour, I .heard a soft sound from this dark corner, And coming over I found that the wooden pin that holds the bung in place Had slipped in its socket, So that the bung was loosened a little, And from one side of it There came a thin spray of water Spurting out into the Hold. It was easy to press back the bung, And to slip the wooden pin into place, But what happened once Might happen again ; 3 2 And since then, Every morning I have been careful to come and see that all was well. And standing here, with my hand on the chain, I have thought how easy a thing it would be To loosen the pin in its socket, To see that spray of water start again into the Hold, And then To slip quietly away, Away up the ladder, While the bung gave Little by little, And that spray of water grew into a stream, And then a great spout of water, churning far into the Hold. Slowly at first, But ever quicker and more quick, The Hold would fill with water. And as it filled The Ark would sink, Lower and loww . . . JAPHETH (after a long silence) You have strange thoughts, Father. NOAH 1 am an old man, Japheth, And the old have oftentimes strange thoughts, Although they seldom speak them. JAPHETH Why, then, have you chosen to speak your thoughts to me now ? c 33 NOAH Because it is you that must tell me what to do. JAPHETH It is God who must tell you that. NOAH God hath his reckoning with me alone. But now my reckoning is with man. I hold the fate of mankind within these fingers. Let man choose. JAPHETH You should ask the rather of my brothers. NOAH They love life. It is clear beforehand what they would say. JAPHETH Knowing then my weakness, You would tempt me. NOAH I love you, Japheth, child of my begetting. Your weakness is dearer to me than the strength of ten. I would not tempt you, And well you know what word it is that I hope to hear you speak. JAPHETH (after mother silence} Father, I cannot speak that word. You gave me life, But here If you ask for the truth 34 I stand before you and I say, Take it again. For life to those who think is misery, And the end of all things is the hope of all. Verily you cheat yourself If you believe that in giving judgment awhile ago between my brethren You have contented them for more than a day. For looking ahead to the time that shall be when the flood is ended, I foresee trouble, trouble, and trouble urther yet. I am a man of peace, Father, And I love the arts and the labours of peace j They call me the ' maker.' But what virtue is there in making For other men to destroy ? And if not men God ? For He, it seems, is the greatest destroyer of all. This, then, is my answer : Man is a weak and a puny thing at best, But if by destruction he may make himself the equal of God, Why then, For all I care, Let the world, Like a broken toy, Turn again into the chaos whence it came. NOAH (almost inaudibly) Go, Japheth. Japheth obeys, and Noah is left alone. Noah remains JOY a while standing where he is. Then turns and sits down wearily on a clump of coiled rope. 35 So this is the end. My son has rejected the life that I offered him My son, For whom all my hope and labour has been All my life long. What more is there to do ? This is the crown of my trouble. Noah rises with arms outstretched. Oh, God, Now in my loneliness and despair I turn to Thee, Great creator of All, And I charge Thee to speak from the dark abyss where thou dwellest, And if so be that thou hast any love remaining for the generation of man, Do thou make known thy will ; Make it known, I say, Lest ere long it be too late Too late even for Thee, God! For although thou mayest create another and a better world, Never again canst thou love it as a mother loves her first-born child. And if so be thou blamest me now for faithlessness, Know this, O God, That never of myself would I have done this thing, And that I, even now, am but the instrument of another's choice. For did I not shudder in my soul when Japheth spake that word which forbade me to hold my hand? 36 And myself have I not loved the world and hoped for it ? Yea, verily, That day when Japheth came to me With his boy's eyes all shining with pride and fear, And showed me the arrow-head that he had made of molten metal, I indeed received his gift with few words ; But none the less did I ponder the matter in my heart, And bethought me what further secrets might be lurking under the great vault of the sky, What new marvels for my sons and their sons' children To discover in the fulness of time. And I was proud to be their father, And in myself I felt the stir of miracles to be. But now all that is done with, For what is an arrow-head beside the heart's happiness ? And happiness is gone ; And I, the creature of God, Rise up against God in judgment. Noah paces in agony up and down the Hold. Oh, why was I born ? Why was I born to carry in my soul the burden of this doubt ! Ha! And to think that the very men For whom I am to do this deed Will never live to thank me ! He goes up to the bung, and stretches out his hand towards the chain ; then speaks again very quietly. 37 It is mid day. My wife and my sons and their children lie upon the deck asleep. Without having touched the chain he drops his hand. O God ! O God ! He comes back towards the front of the Hold. God has not spoken. He will not speak. It may be there is no God. . . . Suddenly there is a livid flash of lightning that illumines for an instant the darkest recesses of the Hold, folloived almost immediately by a crash of thunder. The whole Ark shivers from top to bottom. Noah staggers back into an attitude of rigidity. For from the bunghole of the Ark a great jet of water is spurting out into the Hold. It seems to gather volume every moment, and splashes up in a cloud of white spray where it strikes the floor. With a loud cry Noah runs to the bung and tries to press it back into place. Almost at the same'moment Shem, Ham, andjapjieth come hastily down the ladder. SHEM The ship has been struck by lightning ! Father, where are you ? HAM Father ! JAPHETH Father! Father! 38 Now they have caught sight of Noah struggling at the bung, and they hurry over to him with cries of encouragement and exhortation. Japheth tears off a great piece of linen from his robe and stuffs it into the Iwle. The water ceases to pour in, SHEM But how did it happen ? HAM I think the lightning must have struck the side of the ship. . . . SHEM And not a cloud in the sky ! Most strange ! HAM Did you feel it even here, Father ? But Noah makes no reply. He has sunk back against the timbered wall of the ship. His head is held between his hands. JAPHETH Father . . . NOAH (lifting his head, and staring in front of him like one who has seen a vision)\ The Lord is merciful. JAPHETH Are you hurt, Father ? 39 NOAH No matter. No matter. It will pass. . . But now I am broken. JAPHETH Tell me. NOAH God was too strong, Japheth. He spake His word and the fire descended. He struck His bolt and the waters flowed. SHEM Yet it was you that saved the Ark ! NOAH Oh, yes, It was I that saved the Ark. Another moment and the waters would have] rent the sides away. And then no power on earth, Not God Himself, Could have stopped them. SHEM You have done this day a mighty deed ! HAM You have saved the world, Father ! NOAH Have I, Shem and Ham ? But what say you, Japheth ? 40 JAPHETH^bowing his head) I am ashamed. NOAH And I am glad. I accept. Yes. . . . Noah rises. For now all is over, The lesson is learnt, And once again Time reaches out before the race oilman Man who is both the servant and the master ; And his will lieth within the will of God Like seed in the hand of the sower. SHEM Our Father speaks strange words. He is even as one talking in his sleep. HAM His eyes are wide open. . . NOAH Hark ! Listen ! Noah comes forward to the front of the Hold. A long silence. SHEM What is it, Father ? NOAH Cannot you hear ? SHEM No, Father. HAM Nothing. NOAH You hear it, Japheth ? So gentle It might be the very breath of the Spirit of God. JAPHETH (after a further silence) I hear the sound of a dove Cooing. NOAH THE DOVE HAS RETURNED TO THE ARK. JAPHETH Rachel's dove. NOAH Go. Find and tell her, Japheth. 42 OTHER FANCIES 43 THE INVOCATION (~** RAVE God who gazest darkly down, *