Histrion

"Histrion" is the third song in William Bolcom's cycle Old Addresses.

Date: 2002Composer: William BolcomText: Ezra PoundSong Collection: Old Addresses

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Histrion
by Ezra Pound
 

Histrion

No man hath dared to write this thing as yet,
And yet I know, how that the souls of all men great
At times pass athrough us,
And we are melted into them, and are not
Save reflexions of their souls.
Thus am I Dante for a space and am
One Francois Villon, ballad-lord and thief,
Or am such holy ones I may not write
Lest blasphemy be writ against my name;
This for an instant and the flame is gone.

‘Tis as in midmost us there glows a sphere
Translucent, molten gold, that is the “I”
And into this some form projects itself:
Christus, or John, or eke the Florentine;
And as the clear space is not if a form’s
Imposed thereon,
So cease we from all being for the time,
And these, the Masters of the Soul, live on.

Sheet Music

Old Addresses

Composer(s): William Bolcom

Song(s): 1. Lady Death
2. Histrion
3. Ballad of the Landlord
4. The Embrace
5. Africa
6. To My Old Addresses

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