La Alpujarra 4-6

[poliphilo]

4. BUNUEL

 

Hypocrisy is sometimes merely

Good manners,

 

                   Or should we turn that round

And call good manners hypocrisy?

 

He was, I’ve read, urbane himself,

A typical bourgeois-  Drinky-drinks

And a dog at his feet.

 

                             My favourite picture

Shows him sighting a hunting rifle

Straight at the camera.

 

                             Who do you think

We’re going to meet when we round this corner?

Could it be Fernando Rey

In a nice white suit? “Hola, Fernando.”

Could it be the parish priest

In his broad-brimmed hat? “Good evening, father”

Could it be a yellow dog

With its tongue wag-wagging, dispensing drool?

Pad, pad, pad, not quite a wolf,

But not exactly man’s best friend either.

 

5. COLUMBUS

 

Cristofero

Enters the church,

His coffin carried

By cruel princes.

 

Hear the kettle-drums,

Doom, doom,

Hear the trumpets,

Hear the conches.

 

Riches, riches,

Rot the heart;

Cristofero’s

Was exceedingly rotted.

 

I would not want

That rotted heart

Of Cristofero’s

To be beating near me.

 

Doom, doom,

Doom, doom

Cristofero

Goes to the tomb.

 

His fame flaps

Like a flag on a beach

And booms like a cannonade

Fired at mountains.

 

6 . NADA

 

Roy Campbell

Fought for Franco,

Fought for the lovely Catholic Church,

 

For the cool vision

Of John of the Cross,

For water ticking on cool stone,

 

For lovely darkness

And lovely light

And nothing, nothing, nothing.

Comments

[huskyteer.livejournal.com]

I like these three best so far. Is

Doom, doom,
Doom, doom
Cristofero
Goes to the tomb.

deliberately A. A. Milne-ish?

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Not deliberately, but the unconscious mind does funny things....

Now you point it out the echo is quite unmistakeable.

[pondhopper.livejournal.com]

Was the Columbus poem inspired by a picture of his tomb in the Seville Cathedral?

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

It was indeed!

You'll know that, of course. Is it as fabulous in reality as it appears to be in the pictures I've seen?

[pondhopper.livejournal.com]

I think it is. It needs a good dusting, though. But I also think that you should come to Seville and see for yourselves. We'd love to be your guides.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

One of these days....

We'll bring a feather duster with us.

[algabal.livejournal.com]

If it is true that Campbell fought for nothing, then nothing must be considered preferable to a nightmare.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Roy Campbell went on to translate the poems of St. John of the Cross.

"Nothing" is a tease...

It might be indicative of the "dark night" in which the human soul achieves union with the Divine or, on the other hand....