The Candle a Saint

[fajrdrako]

The Candle a Saint by Wallace Stevens (1879-1955)

Green is the night, green kindled and apparelled.
It is she that walks among astronomers.

She strides above the rabbit and the cat,
Like a noble figure, out of the sky,

Moving among the sleepers, the men,
Those that lie chanting green is the night.

Green is the night and out of madness woven,
The self-same madness of the astronomers

And of him that sees, beyond the astronomers,
The topaz rabbit and the emerald cat,

That sees above them, that sees rise up above them,
The noble figure, the essential shadow,

Moving and being, the image at its source,
The abstract, the archaic queen. Green is the night.

Comments

[threeringedmoon.livejournal.com]

I don't think I have ever read this one by Stevens. I need to go check my Collected Poems!

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Stevens fascinates me, and it was a bit of a tossup which of his to post - I really love "Domination of Black" but I love this one, too.

I really have no idea what Stevens is trying to say here but I love the way he is saying it.

[raissad.livejournal.com]

Cool. :)

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I love the imagery in that.