I cull and offer this and this,
and these last definite whorls
or later star or flower, such
rare dark in another world,
outdistancing us, madness
upon madness, the crest
and hollow, the lift and fall,
ah drift, so soft, so light,
where rollers shot with blue
cut under deeper blue as the
tide slackens when the roar of
a dropped wave breaks into it,
and under and under, this
is clear—soft kisses like bright
flowers— why do you dart and
pulse till all the dark is home?
I am scattered in its whirl.
* * *
This cento is composed exclusively of lines taken from fifteen pages in the Collected Poems of H.D., 6th printing, 1945. Hilda Doolittle is a fascinating figure in 20th century American poetry. You might look at the Poetry Foundation’s biography for further information:
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/h-d
O at the Edges 
Someone’s smitten!👍🏻
~ Clyde Long via mobile device ~
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It happens…
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Superb, the analogy of love and waves forming and breaking…..
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HD gets all the credit for the words!
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Beautiful!But it’s a song?
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I suppose it could be put to music, but that’s beyond my capabilities. 🙂
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So y ou did write it? It’s lovely
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I assembled it, but the words were taken from various pieces in H.D.’s Collected Poems.
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Ah, I understand now. You arranged the lines so well.
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Thank you. Centos are fun and challenging to produce!
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It’s wonderful to come back to WordPress and find you and this cento here… Once upon a time, I was The Fairy of Disenchantment, and now I’ve started a new blog with a different angle and no alter egos… but I hope it will have poetry again; it’s been too damned long. ~Sunshine
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Sunshine! I’m so pleased to hear from you. Welcome back! And please send me a link to your new blog.
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https://awayfromthemachine.wordpress.com And you are definitely one of the friends I reference in my inaugural post! It’s nice to be home again.
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Thanks, Sunshine. I just found your comment in my spam folder. Dunno why it was there, but thought you should know.
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Just started reading an anthology of Imagist poetry so this resonated!
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Cool! I have a copy of Some Imagist Poets, 1917, an anthology containing poems by HD, D.H. Lawrence and others. A treasured artifact!
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Mine’s a Penguin! ‘Imagist Poetry’ (Ed) Peter Jones. Looking forward to it!
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Oh how I enjoyed this😊
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I’m so pleased you did. Thank you!
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My pleasure 😊
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That opening line is a perfect allusion to the cento’s form, especially with the lines that follow, as they describe the blending of elements that stand easily on their own, yet take on new life as they are combined.
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I hadn’t thought of that before, Ken. You’re right!
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