Oscar Williams

From “Golden Darkness”

I KNOW that life is Jason,

And that beauty is the witch-maiden helping him.

I know that the soft, luminous night of stars

Is the golden fleece he is seeking.

I know that in the beginning

He sowed the boulders, the teeth of dead ages,

And the innumerable armored cities have arisen.

I know that he has thrown among them love and desire,

And they have warred and shall war with each other until the end.

And if you doubt the least word I have said,

Come out on the dark beach some strange summer night

And watch the huge quivering serpent of the ocean

Still coiled around the trunk of the tree of paradise.