Page:Hugh Selwyn Mauberley.djvu/26

 26 By constant elimination The manifest universe Yielded an armour Against utter consternation,

A Minoan undulation, Seen, we admit, amid ambrosial circumstances Strengthened him against The discouraging doctrine of chances

And his desire for survival, Faint in the most strenuous moods, Became an Olympian apathein In the presence of selected perceptions.

A pale gold, in the aforesaid pattern, The unexpected palms Destroying, certainly, the artist's urge, Left him delighted with the imaginary Audition of the phantasmal sea-surge,

Incapable of the least utterance or composition, Emendation, conservation of the "better tradition", Refinement of medium, elimination of superfluities, August attraction or concentration.

Nothing in brief, but maudlin confession Irresponse to human aggression, Amid the precipitation, down-float Of insubstantial manna Lifting the faint susurrus Of his subjective hosannah.

Ultimate affronts to human redundancies;

Non-esteem of self-styled "his betters" Leading, as he well knew, To his final Exclusion from the world of letters.