Tuesday
If snow is currently blasting you and paralyzing all your movements, I have just the poem for you. To fully appreciate Ezra Pound’s “Ancient Music,” however, it helps to first read the poem he is parodying. “Summer Is Icumen In” is one of my favorite medieval poems, largely because its intense nature imagery makes it feel so alive. For a moment, therefore, imagine yourself in warmer circumstances. Then you can return to your cold reality:
Sumer is i-cumin in—
Lhude sing, cuccu!
Groweth sed and bloweth med
And springth the wude nu.
Sing, cuccu!
Awe bleteth after lomb,
Lhouth after calve cu,
Bulluc sterteth, bucke verteth—
Murie sing, cuccu!
Cuccu, cuccu,
Wel singes thu, cuccu.
Ne swik thu naver nu!
If you want a translation, you can go to my blog post on the lyric. “Bullock leaps, buck farts, merry sings cuckoo,” however, is probably all you need for the moment.
Ready for some winter storm therapy? Take it away, Ezra:
Ancient Music
By Ezra Pound
Winter is icumen in,
Lhude sing Goddamm,
Raineth drop and staineth slop,
And how the wind doth ramm!
Sing: Goddamm.
Skiddeth bus and sloppeth us,
An ague hath my ham.
Freezeth river, turneth liver,
Damm you; Sing: Goddamm.
Goddamm, Goddamm, ’tis why I am, Goddamm,
So ‘gainst the winter’s balm.
Sing goddamm, damm, sing goddamm,
Sing goddamm, sing goddamm, DAMM.
And there you have it.