sveti stefan
to charles
It was incongruous ... on an island fort in Montenegro,
Smallest of kingdoms in a union of diversity,
Still Balkan, still an historic substance
In the remembrance of a child's stubborn mind ...
We met. The centre and the fringe were joined
By chance or pre-determination: we shall never know.
You carried urns of Greece, the Latin measurement
Of odes, the civilities and narrow laws of Rome,
Renaissance of the urgency in man from
Museums and galleries of Italy, urbanity
Of Paris, flavours of Bordeaux, and the controlled Goth
In the verse of Germany. I choose only the most valued
Treasures, as would a man fleeing his house in devouring flames:
The lesser gifts I have ignored, but not forgotten.
I brought a stringency of mind which renaissance
Never smoothed, handful of myths half-understood,
From time when Greece was an unpeopled waste,
Pocketful of green legends from the mouths of shepherds,
Wild stories of our Celtic Summer Country, and ideas
Of rounded language that tongue turns into sound
Sufficient in its own sonority. I brought
Stresses of clouded hills which surprised even
Their creator with his perfection of achievement.
And I added the knowledge that the centre can not be
The whole, but rebirth must embrace rebellion
In every point of every human compass.
The true Renaissance was a small white flame
Lit by the comparison of fiery gifts, and the token
Was the friendship between our varied selves, despite
Some denial and acceptance of apparent values. When man
And man meet, and become two parts of unity,
Laughing over a difference of opinion, sharing
Food, wine, and the right to two human divinations,
God is superfluous. If by one potent touch we could bring
Mankind into our relationship, the universal well
Could be our common drink, and the poisons of exile
Seep into the cleansing earth. I do not think
Humanity is more than god in tied and closed-up parcels.
We have opened our packages to each other, and the opulence
Is bizarre, impossible, and yet a natural enrichment.
Upon a meagre island on the coast of Montenegro
The incongruous was the pervasive continent of life.
Page(s) 92-93
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