Becalm the Days (R1)

Becalm the days and quiet nights
That supple like the palm is supple,
Branch and thicken in the cold
Like bamboo branches out
And thickens in the upper air:

Let me turn again to coasts
And blue meridians,
Lands of tiger saplings urging on the cast
Of predatory shadows,
Blazing fur and eyes the color of leaf
Piling on august sheaf,
Until islands like quiet obsidian lie
Leaf-meal in their decadence
Of ocean's calm, surrendering to barren rocks
Her breast, the suckling
Stillness of her sands.

Becalm the Days (O)

Becalm the days and quiet nights
That supple like the palm
Is supple, branch and thicken in the cold
Like bamboo branches out
And thickens in the upper air:

Let me turn again to coasts
And blue meridians,
Stripling lands of tigers,
Saplings, urging on the cast
Of predatory shadows,
Blazing fur and eyes
The color of the wanton leaf
Piling on august leaf, until islands
Like quiet obsidian lie
Their leaf-meal residence,
Where ocean's calm
Surrenders to the barren rocks
Her breast, the suckling stillness of her sands.