The Kiskadee is a bird native to Guyana and often referred to in Edgar Mittelholzer's brilliant novel, The Life and Death of Sylvia (1953). The bird is so named because its cry seemed by French colonists to be enquiring: "Qu’ est ce qu’il dit?". So what did he say? This blog is about two key topics: EDGAR MITTELHOLZER (his life and his works) and ME (my encounter with Mittelholzer and tales of life in Guyana).

Monday, 25 October 2010

Epithalamium (1945)

Trembled we have in the wind,
In the damp, in the fury of the night.
Reclined have they in the warmth,
In the perfumed security of the home.
The fear of the dark we have known
And the startling crack of a twig,
The roar, the whirl and the hiss of rain,
While on a couch
In the safety of a drawing-room
They have murmured and yawned
In ascetic content.
Trembled we have in the heat
Of unrestrained rapture,
In the cool, in the starry purple of night,
And kissed in the settling dew;
We of the Earth.
Chaste and controlled have they sat
In the warmth
Under the static lights of the home,
While we have roamed
In primeval gloom,
But in joy without bound;
We of the Earth:
Incorrect, incorrigible, immoral.
They of the drawing-room:
Correct, proper, and clean in thought,
Indeed!
Gentleman, a toast to the bride!
To the bridegroom!
To the drawing-room!

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