Conrad Aiken

“Cosmos mariner destination unknown”

“It's time to make love, douse the glim; The fireflies twinkle and dim; The stars lean together Like birds of a feather, And the loin lies down with the limb.”

“Forward into the untrodden! Courage, old man,and hold on to your umbrella! Have you got your garters on? Mind your hat! ("Mr. Arcularis")”

“Here too was the terrifying fixed curve of the infinite, the creeping curve of logic which at least must become the final signpost at the edge of nothing. After that - the deluge. The great white light of annihilation. The bright flash of death... ("Mr. Arcularis")”

“Variations: IIGreen light, from the moon,Pours over the dark blue trees,Green light from the autumn moonPours on the grass ...Green light falls on the goblin fountainWhere hesitant lovers meet and pass. They laugh in the moonlight, touching hands,They move like leaves on the wind ...I remember an autumn night like this,And not so long ago,When other lovers were blown like leaves,Before the coming of snow.”

“It is moonlight. Alone in the silenceI ascend my stairs once more,While waves remote in pale blue starlightCrash on a white sand shore.It is moonlight. The garden is silent.I stand in my room alone.Across my wall, from the far-off moon,A rain of fire is thrown.There are houses hanging above the stars,And stars hung under the sea,And a wind from the long blue vault of timeWaves my curtains for me.I wait in the dark once more,swung between space and space:Before the mirror I lift my handsAnd face my remembered face.”

“MUSIC I heard with you was more than music, And bread I broke with you was more than bread. Now that I am without you, all is desolate, All that was once so beautiful is dead. Your hands once touched this table and this silver,And I have seen your fingers hold this glass. These things do not remember you, beloved: And yet your touch upon them will not pass. For it was in my heart you moved among them,And blessed them with your hands and with your eyes.And in my heart they will remember always: They knew you once, O beautiful and wise!”