The Secret Splendour

(Belisarius was the greatest general during the reign of Justinian. Both he and his emperor married dancing girls. The empress conspired his ruin and had him degraded. His wife ran away with a monk. In the end the once-famous soldier used to stand under the Arch of his own triumph in Byzantium - a blind beggar but still unbroken in spirit.)

All griefs flung at my darkness I devour

In the illimitable chasm that breaks

Wide-open where my heart feels their keen touch!

So deep its sudden mouth of conquering calm

That towers of joy doom-shaken topple sheer

Into the passionless gulf, leaving no weight

Upon my soul and never the least cry.

There all those shattered gleans are lost, the proud

Marble and bronze of statued victories:

There the large wealth of day, and there the sun

Of love, a woman's face now turned for ever...

Now in the chill of a scornful earth 1 stand,

A blinded beggar's palm outstretched to grope

His few bare crumbs' delight. Who knows that I

Put forth this hand, craving but fiercer pains

To fathom my immortal widenesses?

27.11.36

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