From the memory of eyes to the limpid oblivion of silks

From the memory of eyes to the limpid oblivion of silks
'Silences' in looks or 'trills' of lace!
It is a song grave and sweet as cellos
Which console the exile and scorn pleasures.

Silence that is you and speaks adagio,
Oh sleeping beauty who Reynaldo awakened,
That he may be the blessed mouse to the enchanter
Reynaldo citharode, poet and singer.

(Stanzas added for Reynaldo Hahn, author of a piano piece on Van Dyck and of whom one alexandrine spoke truly when it said: 'Everything that was written by Anaxagoras's disciple is but honey and the song of the Sirens'. M.P.)

From Adam International, no 261, 1957, p13 and Marcel Proust, Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, 1956. p.30. Inscribed under three photographs of pictures by Van Dyck

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Created 16.02.2020