{"id":2102,"date":"2014-05-16T18:00:47","date_gmt":"2014-05-17T01:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alteritas.net\/GXL\/?p=2102"},"modified":"2015-05-25T14:37:03","modified_gmt":"2015-05-25T21:37:03","slug":"envoy-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alteritas.net\/GXL\/?p=2102","title":{"rendered":"Envoy"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Write woman’s words on water swift,<\/span>
\n on wind worn thin with vow.<\/span>
\n Here mine are in black on white,<\/span>
\n though parchment yellow, vowel shift.<\/span>
\n In these poems I dubbed you thou<\/span>
\n though you gave me such short shrift.<\/span><\/p>\n

In our embrace I thought I clutched<\/span>
\n the pulse that throbs in veins, no sham<\/span>
\n beat which rhyme and feet prolong.<\/span>
\n With these words let proof be clinched<\/span>
\n sting too can send a dithyramb.<\/span>
\n I sought more than paltry song.<\/span><\/p>\n

Fallen leaves which leave behind<\/span>
\n a pang each day renews,<\/span>
\n my poems on something bright and quickly<\/span>
\n drawn away were better in my mind.<\/span>
\n I am done\u00a0with you, my Muse,<\/span>
\n now that you are through\u00a0with me.<\/span><\/p>\n

***<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

An envoy or envoi is a stanza appended at the end of a poem, a coda. They are traditionally addressed to an imaginary or an actual person, often a Patron or a Lady Love, in different settings the poet\u2019s Muse.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

Rest assured that there was an original\u00a0addressee though she was ultimately only\u00a0a minor muse. There remain fragments and heart-shards of the poem I once started out to write to her, something of a grievance, an ancient and noble poetic convention. This poem was however addressed from its beginning to Catullus, the opening lines of whose\u00a0<\/i>Carmina\u00a070 are mine in translation:<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

sed mulier cupido quod dicit amanti,
\n<\/i><\/b>in vento et rapida scribere oportet acqua<\/i><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Write women\u2019s word on water swift,
\n<\/i>on wind worn thin with vow.\u00a0<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

Before anyone gets too wrought up with the latent political incorrectness of this assertion, let me state\u00a0that when I wrote it I had decided never to write another poem. This envoy was to be my goodbye to poetry itself. Herself?<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Write woman’s words on water swift, on wind worn thin with vow. Here mine are in black on white, though parchment yellow, vowel shift. In these poems I dubbed you thou though you gave me such short shrift. In our embrace I thought I clutched the pulse that throbs in veins, no sham beat which … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Envoy”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

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