Mike Fletcher - George Moore (best books to read now TXT) 📗
- Author: George Moore
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Veronese. As It Is With Painters So It Is With Poets, And Wolf Cubs
Tear The Pages Of The Last _Divine Comedy_ In The World. Rome Is His
Great Agony, Her Shameful History Falls Before His Eyes Like A
Painted Curtain. All The Inner Nature Of Life Is Revealed To Him, And
He Sees Into The Heart Of Things As Did Christ In The Garden Of
Gethsemane--Christ, That Most Perfect Symbol Of The Denial Of The
Will To Live; And, Like Christ, He Cries That The World May Pass From
Him.
"But In Resignation, Hatred And Horror Vanish, And He Muses Again On
The More Than Human Redemption, The Great Atonement That Man Has Made
For His Shameful Life's History; And Standing Amid The Orange And
Almond Trees, Amid A Profusion Of Bloom That The World Seems To Have
Brought For Thank-Offering, Amid An Apparent And Glorious Victory Of
Inanimate Nature, He Falls Down In Worship Of His Race That Had
Freely Surrendered All, Knowing It To Be Nothing, And In Surrender
Had Gained All.
"In That Moment Of Intense Consciousness A Cry Breaks The Stillness,
And Searching Among The Marbles He Finds A Dying Woman. Gathering
Some Fruit, He Gives Her To Eat, And They Walk Together, She
Considering Him As Saviour And Lord, He Wrapped In The Contemplation
Of The End. They Are The End, And All Paling Fascination, Which Is
The World, Is Passing From Them, And They Are Passing From It. And
The Splendour Of Gold And Red Ascends And Spreads--Crown And Raiment
Of A World That Has Regained Its Primal Beauty.
"'We Are Alone,' The Woman Says. 'The World Is Ours; We Are As King
And Queen, And Greater Than Any King Or Queen.'
"Her Dark Olive Skin Changes About The Neck Like A Fruit Near To
Chapter 3 Pg 25Ripen, And The Large Arms, Curving Deeply, Fall From The Shoulder In
Superb Indolences Of Movement, And The Hair, Varying From Burnt-Up
Black To Blue, Curls Like A Fleece Adown The Shoulders. She Is Large
And Strong, A Fitting Mother Of Man, Supple In The Joints As The
Young Panther That Has Just Bounded Into The Thickets; And Her Rich
Almond Eyes, Dark, And Moon-Like In Their Depth Of Mystery, Are Fixed
On Him. Then He Awakes To The Danger Of The Enchantment; But She
Pleads That They, The Last Of Mankind, May Remain Watching Over Each
Other Till The End; And Seeing His Eyes Flash, Her Heart Rejoices.
And Out Of The Glare Of The Moon They Passed Beneath The Sycamores.
And Listening To The Fierce Tune Of The Nightingales In The Dusky
Daylight There, Temptation Hisses Like A Serpent; And The Woman
Listens, And Drawing Herself About The Man, She Says--
"'The World Is Ours; Let Us Make It Ours For Ever; Let Us Give Birth
To A New Race More Great And Beautiful Than That Which Is Dead. Love
Me, For I Am Love; All The Dead Beauties Of The Race Are Incarnate In
Me. I Am The Type And Epitome Of All. Was The Venus We Saw Yesterday
Among The Myrtles More Lovely Than I?'
"But He Casts Her From Him, Asking In Despair (For He Loves Her) If
They Are To Renew The Misery And Abomination Which It Required All
The Courage And All The Wisdom Of All The Ages To Subdue? He Calls
Names From Love's Most Fearful Chronicle--Cleopatra, Faustina,
Borgia. A Little While And Man's Shameful Life Will No Longer Disturb
The Silence Of The Heavens. But No Perception Of Life's Shame Touches
The Heart Of The Woman. 'I Am Love,' She Cries Again. 'Take Me, And
Make Me The Mother Of Men. In Me Are Incarnate All The Love Songs Of
The World. I Am Beatrice; I Am Juliet. I Shall Be All Love To
You--Fair Rosamond And Queen Eleanor. I Am The Rose! I Am The
Nightingale!'
"She Follows Him In All Depths Of The Forests Wherever He May Go. In
The White Morning He Finds Her Kneeling By Him, And In Blue And Rose
Evening He Sees Her Whiteness Crouching In The Brake. He Has Fled To
A Last Retreat In The Hills Where He Thought She Could Not Follow,
And After A Long Day Of Travel Lies Down. But She Comes Upon Him In
His First Sleep, And With Amorous Arms Uplifted, And Hair Shed To The
Knee, Throws Herself Upon Him. It Is In The Soft And Sensual Scent Of
The Honeysuckle. The Bright Lips Strive, And For An Instant His Soul
Turns Sick With Famine For The Face; But Only For An Instant, And In
A Supreme Revulsion Of Feeling He Beseeches Her, Crying That The
World May Not End As It Began, In Blood. But She Heeds Him Not, And
To Save The Generations He Dashes Her On The Rocks.
"Man Began In Bloodshed, In Bloodshed He Has Ended.
"Standing Against The Last Tinge Of Purple, He Gazes For A Last Time
Upon The Magnificence Of A Virgin World, Seeing The Tawny Forms Of
Lions In The Shadows, Watching Them Drinking At The Stream."
"Adam And Eve At The End Of The World," Said Drake. "A Very Pretty
Subject; But I Distinctly Object To An Eve With Black Hair. Eve And
Golden Hair Have Ever Been Considered Inseparable Things."
"That's True," Said Platt; "The Moment My Missis Went Wrong Her Hair
Turned Yellow."
Mike Joined In The Jocularity, But At The First Pause He Asked Escott
What He Thought Of His Poem.
"I Have Only One Fault To Find. Does Not The _Dénouement_ Seem Too
Violent? Would It Not Be Better If The Man Were To Succeed In
Escaping From Her, And Then Vexed With Scruples To Return And Find
Her Dead? What Splendid Lamentations Over The Body Of The Last
Woman!--And As The Man Wanders Beneath The Waxing And Waning Moon He
Hears Nature Lamenting The Last Woman. Mountains, Rocks, Forests,
Speak To Him Only Of Her."
"Yes, That Would Do.... But No--What Am I Saying? Such A Conclusion
Would Be In Exact Contradiction To The Philosophy Of My Poem. For It
Chapter 3 Pg 26Is Man's Natural And Inveterate Stupidity (Schopenhauer Calls It
Will) That Forces Man To Live And Continue His Species. Reason Is The
Opposing Force. As Time Goes On Reason Becomes More And More
Complete, Until At Last It Turns Upon The Will And Denies It, Like
The Scorpion, Which, If Surrounded By A Ring Of Fire, Will Turn And
Sting Itself To Death. Were The Man To Escape, And Returning Find The
Woman Dead, It Would Not Be Reason But Accident Which Put An End To
This Ridiculous World."
Seeing That Attention Was Withdrawn From Him Drake Filled His Pockets
With Cigarettes, Split A Soda With Platt, And Seized Upon The
Entrance Of Half A Dozen Young Men As An Excuse For Ceasing To Write
Paragraphs. Although It Had Only Struck Six They Were All In Evening
Dress. They Were Under Thirty, And In Them Elegance And Dissipation
Were Equally Evident. Lord Muchross, A Clean-Shaven Johnnie, Walked
At The Head Of The Gang, Assuming By Virtue Of His Greater Volubility
A Sort Of Headship. Dicky, The Driver, A Stout Commoner, Spoke Of
Drink; And A Languid Blonde, Lord Snowdown, Leaned Against The
Chimney-Piece Displaying A Thin Figure. The Others Took Seats And
Laughed Whenever Lord Muchross Spoke.
"Here We Are, Old Chappie, Just In Time To Drink To The Health Of The
Number. Ha, Ha, Ha! What Damned Libel Have You In This Week? Ha, Ha!"
"Awful Bad Head, A Heavy Day Yesterday," Said Dicky--"Drunk Blind."
"Had To Put Him In A Wheelbarrow, Wheeled Him Into A Greengrocer's
Shop, Put A Carrot In His Mouth, And Rang The Bell," Shouted
Muchross.
"Ha, Ha, Ha!" Shouted The Others.
"Had A Rippin' Day All The Same, Didn't We, Old Dicky? Went Up The
River In Snowdown's Launch. Had Lunch By Tag's Island, Went As Far As
Datchet. There We Met Dicky; He Tooted Us Round By Staines. There We
Got In A Fresh Team, Galloped All The Way To Houndslow. Laura Brought
Her Sister. Kitty Was With Us. Made Us Die With A Story She Told Us
Of A Fellow She Was Spoony On. Had To Put Him Under The Bed....
Ghastly Joke, Dear Boy!"
Amid Roars Of Laughter Dicky's Voice Was Heard--
"She Calls Him Love's Martyr; He Nearly Died Of Bronchitis, And
Became A Priest. Kitty Swears She'll Go To Confession To Him One Of
These Days."
"By Jove, If She Does I'll Publish It In The _Pilgrim_."
"Too Late This Week," Mike Said To Frank.
"We Got To Town By Half Past Six, Went Round To The Cri. To Have A
Sherry-And-Bitters, Dined At The Royal, Went On To The Pav., And On
With All The Girls In Hansoms, Four In Each, To Snowdown's."
"See Me Dance The Polka, Dear Boy," Cried The Languid Lord, Awaking
Suddenly From His Indolence, And As He Pranced Across The Room Most
Of His Drink Went Over Drake's Neck; And Amid Oaths And Laughter
Escott Besought Of The Revellers To Retire.
"We Are Still Four Columns Short, We Must Get On." And For An Hour
And A Half The Scratching Of The Pens Was Only Interrupted By The
Striking Of A Match And An Occasional Damn. At Six They Adjourned To
The Office. They Walked Along The Strand Swinging Their Sticks, Full
Of Consciousness Of A Day's Work Done. Drake And Platt, Who Had
Avenged Some Private Wrongs In Their Paragraphs, Were Disturbed By
The Fear Of Libel; Harding Gnawed The End Of His Moustache, And
Reconsidered His Attack On A Contemporary Writer, Pointing His Gibes
Afresh.
They Trooped Up-Stairs, The Door Was Thrown Open. It Was A Small
Office, And At The End Of The Partitioned Space A Clerk Sat In Front
Chapter 3 Pg 27Of A Ledger On A High Stool, His Face Against The Window. Lounging On
The Counter, Turning Over The Leaves Of Back Numbers, They Discussed
The Advertisements. They Stood Up When Lady Helen Entered. [Footnote:
See _A Modern Lover_.] She Had Come To Speak To Frank About A Poem,
And She Only Paused In Her Rapid Visit To Shake Hands With Harding,
And She Asked Mike If His Poems Would Be Published That Season.
The Contributors To The _Pilgrim_ Dined Together On Wednesday, And
Spent Four Shillings A Head In An Old English Tavern, Where Unlimited
Joint And Vegetables Could Be Obtained For Half-A-Crown. The
Old-Fashioned Boxes Into Which The Guests Edged Themselves Had Not
Been Removed, And About The Mahogany Bar, Placed In The Passage In
Front Of The Proprietress's Parlour,
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