“I Hear an Army” by James Joyce

I Hear an Army

I hear an army charging upon the land,
And the thunder of horses plunging; foam about their
knees:
Arrogant, in black armour, behind them stand,
Disdaining the rains, with fluttering whips, the Char-
ioteers.

They cry into the night their battle name:
I moan in sleep when I hear afar their whirling
laughter.

They cleave the gloom of dreams, a blinding flame,
Clanging, clanging upon the heart as upon an anvil.

They come shaking in triumph their long grey hair:
They come out of the sea and run shouting by the
shore.

My heart, have you no wisdom thus to despair?
My love, my love, my love, why have you left me
alone?

 


Published in The Glebe (vol. 1, no. 5) in February 1914. Special Des Imagistes number.

Digitized versions of this publication:
The Modernist Journals Project

“Bullion” by Amy Lowell

Bullion

My thoughts
Chink  against my ribs
And roll about like silver hail-stones.
I should like to spill them out,
And pour them, all shining,
Over you.
But my heart is shut upon them
And holds them straitly.

Come, you! and open my heart ;
That my thoughts torment me no longer,
But glitter in your hair.


Published in Some Imagist Poets: An Anthology (1915)

Digitized versions of this publication:
The Modernist Journals Project
HathiTrust Digital Library
Archive.org