V. MELODY IN A RESTAURANT

The cigarette-smoke loops and slides above us,

Dipping and swirling as the waiter passes;

You strike a match and stare upon the flame.

The tiny fire leaps in your eyes a moment,

And dwindles away as silently as it came.

This melody, you say, has certain voices —

They rise like nereids from a river, singing,

Lift white faces, and dive to darkness again.

Wherever you go you bear this river with you:

A leaf falls,— and it flows, and you have pain.

So says the tune to you — but what to me?

What to the waiter, as he pours your coffee,

The violinist who suavely draws his bow?

That man, who folds his paper, overhears it.

A thousand dreams revolve and fall and flow.

Some one there is who sees a virgin stepping

Down marble stairs to a deep tomb of roses:

At the last moment she lifts remembering eyes.

Green leaves blow down. The place is checked with shadows.

A long-drawn murmur of rain goes down the skies.

And oaks are stripped and bare, and smoke with lightning:

And clouds are blown and torn upon high forests,

And the great sea shakes its walls.

And then falls silence... And through long silence falls

This melody once more:

‘ Down endless stairs she goes, as once before.’

So says the tune to him — but what to me?

What are the worlds I see?

What shapes fantastic, terrible dreams?...

I go my secret way, down secret alleys;

My errand is not so simple as it seems.