It was easy enough to bend them to my wish, it was easy enough to alter them with a touch, but you adrift on the great sea, how shall I call you back? Cedar and white ash, rock-cedar and sand plants and tamarisk red cedar and white cedar and black cedar from the inmost forest, fragrance upon fragrance and all of my sea-magic is for nought. It was easy enough – a thought called them from the sharp edges of the earth; they prayed for a touch, they cried for the sight of my face, they entreated me till in pity I turned each to his own self. Panther and panther, then a black leopard follows close– black panther and red and a great hound, a god-like beast, cut the sand in a clear ring and shut me from the earth, and cover the sea-sound with their throats, and the sea-roar with their own barks and bellowing and snarls, and the sea-stars and the swirl of the sand, and the rock-tamarisk and the wind resonance – but not your voice. It is easy enough to call men from the edges of the earth. It is easy enough to summon them to my feet with a thought – it is beautiful to see the tall panther and the sleek deer-hounds circle in the dark. It is easy enough to make cedar and white ash fumes into palaces and to cover the sea-caves with ivory and onyx. But I would give up rock-fringes of coral and the inmost chamber of my island palace and my own gifts and the whole region of my power and magic for your glance.
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Authorship:
- by Hilda Doolittle (1886 - 1961) [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Scott Wheeler (b. 1952), "Circe", 2007, first performed 2008 [ mezzo-soprano and piano ], from Turning Back, no. 2, Scott Wheeler Music [sung text checked 1 time]
Researcher for this page: Eric Saroian
This text was added to the website: 2022-05-17
Line count: 59
Word count: 277