Бледный огонь

About a Mrs. Z. whose heart had been
Rubbed back to life by a prompt surgeon's hand.
⁷⁵⁰ She told her interviewer of «The Land
Beyond the Veil» and the account contained
A hint of angels, and a glint of stained
Windows, and some soft music, and a choice
Of hymnal items, and her mother's voice;
But at the end she mentioned a remote
Landscape, a hazy orchard — and I quote:
«Beyond that orchard through a kind of smoke
I glimpsed a tall white fountain — and awoke.»

If on some nameless island Captain Schmidt
⁷⁶⁰ Sees a new animal and captures it,
And if, a little later, Captain Smith
Brings back a skin, that island is no myth.
Our fountain was a signpost and a mark
Objectively enduring in the dark,
Strong as a bone, substantial as tooth,
And almost vulgar in its robust truth!

The article was by Jim Coates. To Jim
Forthwith I wrote. Got her address from him.
Drove west three hundred miles to talk to her.
⁷⁷⁰ Arrived. Was met by an impassioned purr.
Saw that blue hair, those freckled hands, that rapt
Orchideous air — and knew that I was trapped.

«Who'd miss an opportunity to meet
A poet so distinguished?» It was sweet
Of me to come! I desperately tried
To ask my questions. They were brushed aside:
«Perhaps some other time.» The journalist
Still had her scribblings. I should not insist.
She plied me with fruit cake, turning it all
⁷⁸⁰ Into an idiotic social call.
«I can't believe,» she said, «that it is you!
I loved your poem in the Blue Review.
That one about Mon Blon. I have a niece
Who's climbed the Matterhorn. The other piece
I could not understand. I mean the sense.
Because, of course, the sound — But I'm so dense!»

She was. I might have persevered. I might
Have made her tell me more about the white
Fountain we both had seen «beyond the veil»
⁷⁹⁰ But if (I thought) I mentioned that detail
She'd pounce upon it as upon a fond
Affinity, a sacramental bond,
Uniting mystically her and me,
And in a jiffy our two souls would be
Brother and sister trembling on the brink
Of tender incest. «Well,» I said, «I think
It's getting late…»
                  I also called on Coates.
He was afraid he had mislaid her notes.
He took his article from a steel file:
⁸⁰⁰ «It's accurate. I have not changed her style.
There's one misprint — not that it matters much:
Mountain, not fountain. The majestic touch.»

Life Everlasting — based on a misprint!
I mused as I drove homeward: take the hint,
And stop investigating my abyss?
But all at once it dawned on me that this
Was the real point, the contrapuntal theme;
Just this: not text, but texture; not the dream
But a topsy-turvical coincidence,
⁸¹⁰ Not flimsy nonsense, but a web of sense.
Yes! It sufficed that I in life could find
Some kind of link-and-bobolink, some kind
Of correlated pattern in the game,
Plexed artistry, and something of the same
Pleasure in it as they who played it found.

It did not matter who they were. No sound,
No furtive light came from their involute
Abode, but there they were, aloof and mute,
Playing a game of worlds, promoting pawns
⁸²⁰ To ivory unicorns and ebony fauns;
Kindling a long life here, extinguishing
A short one there; killing a Balkan king;
Causing a chunk of ice formed on a high-
Flying airplane to plummet from the sky
And strike a farmer dead; hiding my keys,