The Certain Hour | Page 3

CERTAIN HOUR

(Dizain des Poetes)

By
JAMES BRANCH CABELL

"Criticism, whatever may be its?pretensions, never does more than to?define the impression which is made upon?it at a certain moment by a work wherein?the writer himself noted the impression?of the world which he received at a?certain hour."
NEW YORK
ROBERT M. McBRIDE & COMPANY
1916

Copyright, 1916. by Robert M. McBride &
Copyright, 1915, by McBride, Nast & Co.

Copyright, 1914, by the Sewanee Review Quarterly?Copyright, 1913, by John Adams Thayer Corporation?Copyright, 1912, by Argonaut Publishing Company
Copyright, 1911, by Red Book Corporation?Copyright, 1909, by Harper and Brothers
TO
ROBERT GAMBLE CABELL II
In Dedication of The Certain Hour
Sad hours and glad hours, and all hours, pass over;?One thing unshaken stays:?Life, that hath Death for spouse, hath Chance for?lover;?Whereby decays
Each thing save one thing:--mid this strife diurnal?Of hourly change begot,?Love that is God-born, bides as God eternal,?And changes not;--
Nor means a tinseled dream pursuing lovers?Find altered by-and-bye,?When, with possession, time anon discovers?Trapped dreams must die,--
For he that visions God, of mankind gathers?One manlike trait alone,?And reverently imputes to Him a father's?Love for his son.
CONTENTS
"Ballad of the Double-Soul"?AUCTORIAL INDUCTION?BELHS CAVALIERS?BALTHAZAR'S DAUGHTER?JUDITH'S CREED?CONCERNING CORINNA?OLIVIA'S POTTAGE?A BROWN WOMAN?PRO HONORIA?THE IRRESISTIBLE OGLE?A PRINCESS OF GRUB STREET?THE LADY OF ALL OUR DREAMS?"Ballad of Plagiary"
BALLAD OF THE DOUBLE-SOUL
"Les Dieux, qui trop aiment ses faceties cruelles"
PAUL VERVILLE.
In the beginning the Gods made man, and fashioned the
sky and the sea,?And the earth's fair face for man's dwelling-place, and
this was the Gods' decree:--
"Lo, We have given to man five wits: he discerneth?folly
and sin;?He is swift to deride all the world outside, and blind?to the world within:
"So that man may make sport and amuse Us, in battling
for phrases or pelf,?Now that each may know what forebodeth woe to his?neighbor, and not to himself."
Yet some have the Gods forgotten,--or is it that?subtler
mirth?The Gods extort of a certain sort of folk that cumber
the earth?
For this is the song of the double-soul, distortedly?two in one,--
Of the wearied eyes that still behold the fruit ere?the seed
be sown,?And derive affright for the nearing night from the?light
of the noontide sun.
For one that with hope in the morning set forth, and
knew never a fear,?They have linked with another whom omens bother; and
he whispers in one's ear.
And one is fain to be climbing where only angels have
trod,?But is fettered and tied to another's side who fears?that
it might look odd.
And one would worship a woman whom all perfections
dower,?But the other smiles at transparent wiles; and he?quotes
from Schopenhauer.
Thus two by two we wrangle and blunder about the
earth,?And that body we share we may not spare; but the Gods
have need of mirth.
So this is the song of the double-soul, distortedly?two
in one.--?Of the wearied eyes that still behold the fruit ere?the seed
be sown,?And derive affright for the nearing night from the?light
of the noontide sun.
AUCTORIAL INDUCTION
"These questions, so long as they remain?with the Muses, may very well be unaccompanied?with severity, for where there is no other end?of contemplation and inquiry but that of?pastime alone, the understanding is not?oppressed; but after the Muses have given over?their riddles to Sphinx,--that is, to practise,?which urges and impels to action, choice and?determination,--then it is that they become?torturing, severe and trying."
From the dawn of the day to the dusk he toiled,?Shaping fanciful playthings, with tireless hands,--?Useless trumpery toys; and, with vaulting heart,?Gave them unto all peoples, who mocked at him,?Trampled on them, and soiled them, and went their way.
Then he toiled from the morn to the dusk again,?Gave his gimcracks to peoples who mocked at him,?Trampled on them, deriding, and went their way.
Thus he labors, and loudly they jeer at him;--?That is, when they remember he still exists.
WHO, you ask, IS THIS