TO THE IMMORTAL MEMORY OF THE EMPRESS ELISABETH OF AUSTRIA.

TO THE IMMORTAL MEMORY OF THE EMPRESS ELISABETH OF AUSTRIA.

 

'O stoss' ins Herz mir deinen Speer,

Lös' mich aus einer Welt,

Die ohne dich so öd, so leer,

Umsonst mich ferner hält.' THE EMPRESS ELISABETH.

 

I have read thy poems, regal beauty,

   A century hence in a desolate age

And dearly loved thy present majesty

   So far to distraction, to bliss, to rage;

And why? In all the annals of delight

   Is there a parallel I could conjure

That so like a varied prism of light

   Soaks my imagining mind with wonder?

 

What beauty! — Of expression as feature,

   In those lightly weary and lilting eyes,

Why slums were heavens made by a creature

   Whose presence so royal should patronise

The lowest man to the height of a king,

   The poorest maid to the richest of queens,

And imbue with her honour everything,

   As sunlight reflectively conjures sheens.

 

And yet Titania what troubles stirred

   Around thy too gentle person! What hail

Of unrelenting adversity heard

   Across the world and through ages, a tale

Of beauty, of manners, and learning, twined,

   Like thy raven and onyx plaits, in one

Woman and Poet and Empress combined,

   To sorrows condemned, by evils outrun.

 

But mistress of language, empress of arts,

   Of royalty the brightest ornament,

Thy sensitive person formed of its parts,

   Proudly unique, while custom's exponent,

In a time of anarchy's second birth,

   When such as thy odious step-mother

Too poorly embodied monarchy's worth,

   And repelled thee away to another.

 

Another that loved thee for loveliness,

   For pensive brows and patient lips compressed,

For thy person's evident sprightliness,

   Thy womanly body gorgeously dressed,

And all thy solemnly humorous smiles,

   And all thy obvious empathy's deeds,

Which matched with a charm decoupled of wiles

   Must glorify earth with dignity's seeds.

 

Shy to a virtue and not to a fault,

   Proof to all scandalous gossip could cast,

Thy unsullied heart was a ruby vault,

   Of faithful but sad recollections past;

And too well I know, my witching empress,

   The sickness of mind thy temperament caused,

Too well I feel thy headaches and faintness

   When stood by a stair in agony paused.

  

A son and an heir to suicide lost,

   A husband and king to dullness a prey,

A love predestined, a tender soul tossed,

   To unwelcome people, unhappy fay!

Then fly to Achilles! Fly to the sea,

   That crystal mirror thou lovest so well,

And far from the courts of mere doing, be

   That whichsoever thou longest for belle.

 

On foaming chargers of water be borne,

   Now to thy Hellas, now to dear Britain,

Where into sight she appeared like a fawn,

   Covered in snow, with eyes like a kitten,

As rang the clangourous bells with a zest;

   Such as our island always delighted

To show to venerable monarchs, the best

   Breeding and manners ever had plighted.

 

With many a joyous and saddened sound,

   I fancy I hear thy voice in the boat

Which carried its precious cargo around

   A troubled Europe, as troubled afloat,

Its representative sovereign straining

   To sight the bluffs of Liguria's shore,

At night when the pleasing rain was raining

   With ardour on the many coats she wore.

 

But havoc lies hiding in wait for years

   To seize on a moment's open weakness,

When horrible anarchy's head uprears

   To strike at her loveliness and meekness,

And drive Luigi Lucheni, the wretch,

   That vile and depraved rodent of history,

To find her and now his arm to outstretch,

   Then thrust a blade in the heart of Sisi.

 

And now the world in a moment is stilled

   With its beautiful monarch to silence;

The cowardly anarchist's task fulfilled

   From his doctrine of envious licence.

He flees, but nothing shall ever efface

   The shame of his villainous name and deed

Which leaving a darkened spot on her lace

   Condemns her slowly but fully to bleed.

 

'What has happened?' Nothing sweet lady, rest.

   Though the skies themselves are welling with grief

That aught should ever have entered thy breast  

   But friendship and love, but comfort's relief.

O pale! no love, this world will be darkened

   Almost to blindness without thy presence.

If ever the voice of prayer were hearkened

   Preserve her O God, her self, her essence!

 

She walks in silent amazement, throbbing

   Gently by minute the last of her blood,

And surely her heart itself were sobbing

   To try but to fail to stifle the flood.

Yet God Himself will not let her suffer

   An ounce of pain, nor a pang of anguish,

The earth itself that holds her must love her

   And see her beautifully rest and languish;

 

And close both her eyes — forever! Alas!

   That beauty and virtue should each eclipse

As one, as one silver spirit should pass

   From out of those delicate fading lips!

Sleep angel, as long as it pleases thee,

   Posterity's lot is theirs now to grieve,

From all thy burdens, our darling, be free

   Depart with this last gentle breath: and breathe.

 

The world will ring with the torturous news,

   And wonder what dismal portents are these

Closing the century with uprising crews

   Of anarchists, socialists; thought disease,

Which reckons its books in murders and war,

   Renders a man a donkey of labour

Which holds a beautiful woman a whore,

   And our Sisi, a thing for a sabre.

 

Utopia.

UTOPIA.

ALTHOUGH I grant that Utopia on earth is perhaps a contradiction, as human life is imperfect in so many respects, nevertheless, as a kind of relative perfection or lesser imperfection, the notion of Utopia is useful in the pragmatist’s sense as an ideal of human society. I have written somewhat of this in my essay On Society in my work The Gamut but, before I die, I would like to rather more factually record my simple thoughts on what might in the future of the world be called an Utopian society.

   Firstly, there should be a gentle religion such as Christianity when it is not dreadfully abused in churches as any organisation might be, the police, a school, a government, so that the fear of death and the comprehension of life is temperately mediated in the hearts of man. The religious philosophy of existence I believe should be regulated with science through pantheism, as I believe pantheism is the only admissible interpretation of consciousness in the universe. All poetry, which is verse of the highest inspiration, is a reflection of this principle of consciousness permeating all existence, the victory, triumph, and redemption, of honourable passion over the quietening false notion of death, that is, over that quietened phase of a transmuting life which is considered to be mortal death but which is, in truth, the simple evidence of immortal life’s alteration. This belief I think is the essence of all which is forward, improving, and constructive, in the arts and sciences, as well as in the simple lives of ordinary people, in the happiness of family life and the nobility of daily labour. Naturally, I should hold the really inspired architectural schools so wonderfully followed in the past, as in the gothic and classical schools, to be an excellent reflection of this inner faith which projects itself outwardly into manifested beauty and splendour. 

  This first foundation granted the rest would follow naturally I think. Societies should be clean first of all, this is a point of view I have held since I was young and became strangely obsessed with awkward angles, dirty signs, and graffiti, as abhorrent instances of uncleanliness. I would have everything clean which can be clean; nature of course supplies many instances of chaotic beauty as scattered leaves of a golden autumn, but that is nature’s prerogative, not ours. Symmetry and cleanliness should be the principle of an Utopia.

   Politics should very naturally be gentle, as in gentility; debates should be grandiose and oratorical, fashion should be traditional and finely cut as in Victorian times, and each side should be so genial and learned that it should not matter which side should win as each would be cradled in the same tradition of noble faith in the power of life, and the admiration of human achievement as a reflection of God’s power. Such a state once existed in England when the Whigs or Liberals and Tories were one another’s opposites, that though different alliances should distinguish each from the other, quality should not.

   There would be such a development of medicine, especially in the regions of gene therapy, that much of the suffering caused by mortal ailments will be curable, although I would not wish for there to be the kind of mechanical design through the same means of making a child look a certain way; the surprise at nature is a blessed emotion. Population on earth will hopefully stabilise because the rate of growth lately has been too much to be eventually sustainable. Space colonisation is rather too fanciful I think to be seriously considered, the expense concerned is so great and the technology so awkward that I do not think it a probable proposition. Improvement of desert land, however, I think a much more reasonable possibility. If we cannot through technology learn to make the Sahara desert, the Gobi desert, the Outback, and the two arctic poles, more inhabitable, then I cannot see how space colonisation is an even remotely attainable dream. By great projects of foliage planting and perhaps the digging of canals these now barren places may one day prove havens bristling with mortal life.

   I think eventually nuclear power will supersede all the other forms of power generation, simply because it is more sustainable and copious than the other forms. Hopefully, as with plastic waste, there will one day be developed some means of eliminating the toxic waste of the process, some chemical or process to absorb the radiation thereof. By this essential means of power generation the amount of fossil fuel emissions caused by agriculture and ordinary living, even that generated by chemical manufacturing, will not be so much as to imperil the climate of the earth, which is warming anyway. This same warming will also increase the quantity and variety of plant life, as in the Jurassic period when ferns were the size of trees.

   Yes, I could wish that aerosol paint were banned so to eradicate graffiti from the cities, if it is art they can do it on a canvas. Also, I could wish that shatter-proof glass were used and reused for bottles of drinks and that tins designed so as not to have sharp edges were used instead of plastic. Furthermore, I think compartment train carriages panelled in varnished wood would be a mightily refined addition to society, with all suitable modern accoutrements provided. These little things make a difference I hold, many a mickle maketh a muckle.

   Eventually, I could hope, society at large will begin to be rather more aesthetically pleasing again as it was in the nineteenth century, so that every lamppost, every manhole cover, every window frame, every carpet, every fence, gate, and façade, will be an ornamental delight. My wish is that brutalism and skyscrapers will forever be consigned to the past as an unnecessary concentration of space and forgetfulness of symmetry and beauty. Education will return to consisting of compulsory Latin and Ancient Greek as well as a thorough reading of the King James Bible and Book of Common Prayer with Hymns Ancient and Modern, as well as naturally Shakespeare, Keats, Coleridge, Byron, Johnson, and Boswell, as also a thorough reading and listening of Sir Winston Churchill's speeches. By these means a much better grasp of wider literature and therefore better thinking will be achieved.  There should also be strict lessons in calligraphy in Diamine ink and letter writing. This is the kind of world I would like posterity to inherit.