Rendez-vous
She hath some tree-born spirit of the wood
About her, and the wind is in her hair
Meseems he whisp’reth and awaiteth there
As if somewise he also understood.
The moss-grown kindly trees, meseems, she could
As kindred claim, for tho to some they wear
A harsh dumb semblance, unto us that care
They guard a marvelous sweet brotherhood
And thus she dreams unto the soul of things
Forgetting me, and that she hath it not
Of dull man-wrought philosophies I wot,
She dreameth thus, so when the woodland sings
I challenge her to meet my dream at Astalot
And give him greeting for the song he brings.
Copyright © 1979 by New Directions Publishing Corporation
Copyright © 1979 by The Trustees of the Ezra Pound Literary Property Trust
Copyright © 1979 by Michael King
All rights reserved. Except for brief passages quoted in a newspaper, magazine, radio, television, or website review, no part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
This volume was published with the co-operation of the Center for the Study of Ezra Pound and His Contemporaries, in the Beinecke Library of Yale University. “Hilda’s Book” appears by permission of the Houghton Library, Harvard University.
First published clothbound and as New Directions Paperbook 476 in 1979
The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows:
Doolittle, Hilda, 1886-1961.
End to torment.
(A New Directions Book)
Includes bibliographical references.
1. Pound, Ezra Loomis, 1885-1972—Biography. 2. Doolittle, Hilda, 1886-1961—Friends and associates. 3. Poets, American—20th century—Biography. I. H. D. II. D., H. III. Pound, Ezra Loomis, 1885-1972. Hilda’s book. 1979. IV. Pearson, Norman Holmes, 1909-1975. V. King, Michael John. VI. Title.
PS 3531.082z595 1979 811’5’2 [B]
78-27149
ISBN 978-0-8112-0720-1
ISBN 978-0-8112-2357-7 (e-book)
New Directions Books are published for James Laughlin
by New Directions Publishing Corporation,
80 Eighth Avenue, New York 10011
End to Torment: A Memoir of Ezra Pound Page 9
