Collected Poems Anthony Burgess (best pdf reader for ebooks txt) 📖

birth,

Bring to thy servant the gift of fecundity,

That she be not despised among the lowlier daughters of the earth,

And the worth of her birth be matched by the worth of thy gift.

Lift her, O river god, to the ranks of the mothers, the mothers, the mothers.

SOLDIER’S SONG

Here’s the way we earn our pay.

Who’s the enemy we slay?

Baby slaves so long as they have

Balls between their legs.

That’s no way to earn your pay.

We would rather any day

Take their mothers and then lay our

Balls between their legs.

legs legs legs legs legs legs legs legs (repeat ad lib)

PRAYER

You who nourish the palm and tamarind,

The date-palm and the pepper-tree,

From whose mud the crocodile breeds,

Many-toothed, strong as a chariot.

LULLABY

Out of the desert the wind blows strong, but cool, but cool from out of the sea

The desert burns and the day is long

But night sends my loved one back to me

PASTORALE

What will my love bring when he comes?

A silver ring.

Earth will ring with his tread,

I when he comes.

On his head a kingly crown

When he comes down the hill.

What will he bring?

A silver ring,

When he comes,

When he comes…

WATER SONG

So sang the water, so sang the water:

I was here before man began

And though I will cleanse him and slake his thirst…

I will make him know that I was first,

And when man’s brief day is past,

I will be last.

So sings the water,

So sings the water:

I will obey in the little things, but

I’m not his cattle, his cattle or sheep.

He may bid me go, ocean or rain, or the snow but

I remain

DESERT SONG FOR MOSES

Burning day

Brims into the burning skies

Where only the vulture flies,

Alert for his prey.

Only faith imparts

Hope to hopeless hearts

And bids us brave the dust of our desolate way.

Airless air,

A kingdom of stone and sand

That stretches on hand and hand

Unbounded and bare.

Still we dare the sun

Till our goal is won

And brave the hell that leads to a heavenly land.

TRAVELLING SONG

Sing praise to our God,

Praise to Israel’s Lord.

He strikes down our foes:

Praise the might of his sword.

He will lead us to land

Where our flocks may graze

And temples will stand

To hymn his praise.

His mercy is great as the

Power of his sword –

Hear ye, Israel –

Praise your Lord!

MIRIAM’S SONG OF TRIUMPH

Sing ye to the Lord for he has

Triumphed gloriously

The horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea

Halleluluiah

Sing ye to the Lord for he has

Triumphed gloriously

The horse and his rider hath he thrown into the

Sea hath he thrown into the sea

Praised be his name for ever and ever.

Halleluiah! Halleluiah! Halleluiah! Halleluiah!

(repeat and ad lib.)

MIRIAM’S SONG OF TRIUMPH

The Lord is our captain,

his helmet the sun,

the moon his shield,

the night sky is full of his arrow holes.

Halleluiah

The hands of the Lord were with us.

They pushed the water aside and aside

Like the hands of a farmer dividing grain

The Lord is just, quick to smite the tyrant

Quick to heal the oppressed,

Comfort the comfortless.

He dips his sword in honey, his spear in balm.

Halleluiah

We have seen the wonders of the Lord, in fire and hail,

in plague and famine, in the parting of the waters.

He leads us to a green abode bursting with richness.

Praised be his name for ever and ever.

Halleluiah

Halleluiah

Halleluiah

MARRIAGE ROUND

Where will our wedding wedding be?

Up in the fronds of a dikla tree.

What will we drink and what will we eat?

The moon for wine and the sun for meat.

MOSES’S SONG

Give ear O ye heavens and I will speak

And hear O earth the words of my mouth.

My doctrine shall drop as the rain,

My speech shall distil as the dew,

As the small rain upon the tender herb

And as the showers upon the grass

The Lord is the rock, his work is perfect.

Rejoice O ye nations with his people

For he will arrange the blood of his servants

And will be merciful merciful merciful

Unto his land

And to his people.

TRAVEL SONG

We go, we go to the unknown land

Where the hand of the Lord showers blessings

And the sun fails not nor the soil,

And the man’s toil is a prayer of thankfulness

To the Lord.

There it lies beyond our eyes

And yet within reach of our hand

We go to the unknown land, to the unknown land

BULL SONG

His strength is the strength of the bull that charges in thunder

Again and again

Above in the skies and under the skies

In the golden noon and the moon’s gold

His power and wonder are told.

Halleluiah

GOLDEN CALF SONG

His head is the sun, he bears the moon on his brow.

His legs are the North and the West and the East and South

From his mouth blow the words thereof.

His coat is speckled with the stars.

He strides in power over all the world.

Halleluiah.

BARD’S SONG

And we turned and went up by the way of Bashan.

And Og the king of Bashan went out against us.

He and all his people, to the battle at Edrei.

And the Lord said unto Moses: fear him not,

And thou shalt do to him as thou didst

Unto Sihon king of the Amorites.

So we smote him, and his son, and all his people.

Until there was none left alive.

And we possessed his land.

JUBILEE ANTHEM

FOR MALAYAN BOYS’ VOICES

I

What have we seen in fifty years?

Worlds rise, worlds decay.

Blasts of war have shattered our eyes, our ears,

And threats of war, as terrible as they,

Fed us with fears, blinded with useless tears.

And even this green land

Land of mountain, jungle, birdsong-haunted,

Of sun- and rain-washed earth, sea-beaten sand,

Has seen the conqueror’s garish banner flaunted

And felt the conqueror’s hand.

Nor has the conflict ceased,

The blindfold war to liberate the free.

The untamed jungle hides another beast

Clenching its teeth in evil glee

To see blood rise in the unhappy east.

But we must celebrate

Something achieve, something with labour won

From the devouring jungle crouched in hate

To trample time and swallow up the sun,

A work as nobly great

As any in this noble land begun

Whether to conquer death, impose the rule

Of law on chaos, re-create

The merging of the many into one –

This growth and slow maturing of our school.

II

Young Boys

Beside the silver river

In the silver land

Changing ever-never,

With bright devotion planned,

In green and glory stand

The halls of our endeavour.

Older Boys

Where the only strife

Is to seek and learn