POEMS AND TRANSLATIONS
WHEN YOU TOLD ME OF AN EAGLE
When you told me of an eagle, caged,
Sitting on his dead tree
And facing motionless
That opening toward mountains
And that air for wings,
You turned your head like an eagle caged
And when you told me of a leopard
Pacing his bare floor,
Your hand curved back and forth
Like the motion of a leopard. . . .
And, beyond the iron of imagination,
Crept toward the desert hills.
CASTLE IN SPAIN
I have an endless garden—and I don't know where it is,
For I found and lost the title in a castle in Cadiz.
There are many little garden-gates, creaking like gulls,
And a sea full of ships there, with gold on their hulls . . .
But why so many ships there and why so many gates,
Only my lost title-deed in Cadiz relates.
I have the tallest tower there that ever touched the blue,
But since I don't know where it is, I don't know what to do . . .
For I went there in a dream once—a wild wayfaring
Glad and magnificent beyond all caring . . .
And I wish I had the reason now that then I had
For being so magnificent and being so glad.
But who knows the measure of the distance to fare?
