The Congo and Other Poems | Page 9

help?From a far fifth floor.?For a longer ladder?Hear the fire-chief call.?Listen to the music?Of the firemen's ball.?Listen to the music?Of the firemen's ball.
# To be read or chanted in a heavy bass. # "'Tis the?NIGHT?Of doom,"?Say the ding-dong doom-bells.?"NIGHT?Of doom,"?Say the ding-dong doom-bells.?Faster, faster?The red flames come.?"Hum grum," say the engines,?"Hum grum grum."
# Shriller and higher. #?"Buzz, buzz,"?Says the crowd.?"See, see,"?Calls the crowd.?"Look out,"?Yelps the crowd?And the high walls fall: --?Listen to the music?Of the firemen's ball.?Listen to the music?Of the firemen's ball.
# Heavy bass. #?"'Tis the?NIGHT?Of doom,"?Say the ding-dong doom-bells.?"NIGHT?Of doom,"?Say the ding-dong doom-bells.?Whangaranga, whangaranga,?Whang, whang, whang,?Clang, clang, clangaranga,
# Bass, much slower. #?Clang, clang, clang.?Clang--a--ranga--?Clang--a--ranga--?Clang,?Clang,?Clang.?Listen -- to -- the -- music --?Of the firemen's ball --
Section Two
"Many's the heart that's breaking?If we could read them all?After the ball is over." (An old song.)
# To be read or sung slowly and softly,
in the manner of lustful, insinuating music. #
Scornfully, gaily?The bandmaster sways,?Changing the strain?That the wild band plays.?With a red and royal intoxication,?A tangle of sounds?And a syncopation,?Sweeping and bending?From side to side,?Master of dreams,?With a peacock pride.?A lord of the delicate flowers of delight?He drives compunction?Back through the night.?Dreams he's a soldier?Plumed and spurred,?And valiant lads?Arise at his word,?Flaying the sober?Thoughts he hates,?Driving them back?From the dream-town gates.?How can the languorous?Dancers know?The red dreams come
# To be read or chanted slowly and softly
in the manner of lustful insinuating music. #
When the good dreams go??"'Tis the?NIGHT?Of love,"?Call the silver joy-bells,?"NIGHT?Of love,"?Call the silver joy-bells.?"Honey and wine,?Honey and wine.?Sing low, now, violins,?Sing, sing low,?Blow gently, wood-wind,?Mellow and slow.?Like midnight poppies?The sweethearts bloom.?Their eyes flash power,?Their lips are dumb.?Faster and faster?Their pulses come,?Though softer now?The drum-beats fall.?Honey and wine,?Honey and wine.?'Tis the firemen's ball,?'Tis the firemen's ball.
# With a climax of whispered mourning. # "I am slain,"?Cries true-love?There in the shadow.?"And I die,"?Cries true-love,?There laid low.?"When the fire-dreams come,?The wise dreams go."
# Suddenly interrupting. To be read or sung in
a heavy bass. First eight lines as harsh as possible.
Then gradually musical and sonorous. #
BUT HIS CRY IS DROWNED?BY THE PROUD BAND-MASTER.?And now great gongs whang,?Sharper, faster,?And kettledrums rattle?And hide the shame?With a swish and a swirk?In dead love's name.?Red and crimson?And scarlet and rose?Magical poppies?The sweethearts bloom.?The scarlet stays?When the rose-flush goes,?And love lies low?In a marble tomb.?"'Tis the?NIGHT?Of doom,"?Call the ding-dong doom-bells.?"NIGHT?Of Doom,"?Call the ding-dong doom-bells.
# Sharply interrupting in a very high key. # Hark how the piccolos still make cheer.?"'Tis a moonlight night in the spring of the year."
# Heavy bass. #?CLANGARANGA, CLANGARANGA,?CLANG . . . CLANG . . . CLANG.?CLANG . . . A . . . RANGA . . .?CLANG . . . A . . . RANGA . . .?CLANG . . . CLANG . . . CLANG . . .?LISTEN . . . TO . . . THE . . . MUSIC . . .?OF . . . THE . . . FIREMEN'S BALL . . .?LISTEN . . . TO . . . THE . . . MUSIC . . .?OF . . . THE . . . FIREMEN'S . . . BALL. . . .
Section Three
In Which, contrary to Artistic Custom, the moral of the piece is placed before the reader.
(From the first Khandaka of the Mahavagga: "There Buddha?thus addressed his disciples: `Everything, O mendicants, is burning. With what fire is it burning? I declare unto you it is burning with the fire of passion, with the fire of anger, with the fire of ignorance. It is burning with the anxieties of birth, decay and death, grief, lamentation, suffering and despair. . . . A disciple, . . . becoming weary of all that, divests himself of passion.?By absence of passion, he is made free.'")
# To be intoned after the manner of a priestly service. # I once knew a teacher,?Who turned from desire,?Who said to the young men?"Wine is a fire."?Who said to the merchants: --?"Gold is a flame?That sears and tortures?If you