The following excerpt is Section 15 of “The Walls Do Not Fall” which is included in H.D.’s Collected Poems, 1912-1944:
Too old to be useful
(whether in years of experience,
we are the same lot)
not old enough to be dead,
not old enough to be dead,
we are the keepers of the secret,
the carriers, the spinners
the carriers, the spinners
of the rare intangible thread
that binds all humanity
that binds all humanity
to ancient wisdom,
to antiquity;
to antiquity;
our joy is unique, to us,
grape, knife, cup, wheat
grape, knife, cup, wheat
are symbols in eternity,
and every concrete object
and every concrete object
has abstract value, is timeless
in the dream parallel
in the dream parallel
whose relative sigil has not changed
since Nineveh and Babel.
since Nineveh and Babel.
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