8.

who played the god before all men ?
where are we - and what threatens -
are you the enemy, are they seeking you

with lanterns on the quay
and sentries on the break-water ?
O, do not tear yourself away,
surely lost and again, lost
for if they take you, I am maimed and outcase;
where did we come from? how did we meet here ?
where have you gone ?

dear Lord, and is this all that I have left,
that I have left, only this empty,
only this empty, old discarded cloak ?
my alien garments weigh my limbs like lead,

when I would run-
Ave Maria - save us,
Christ who saves.

## XII

It filtered through, though it was lies, I knew,
he had been stretched upon the rack and tried,
condemned and died ;

"no, no, he was beheaded; he did not swing
at Tyburn, as they say," "but quiet, quiet, Peter,
the Lady Elizabeth may overhear";

"I tell her to go - some saw her on the quay -
and go yourself, I'll stay on at the Tower",
(I crouched upon the landing of the upper stair),

"the gates are closed or will be before day,
I have the Tower passes and the key; Agatha, go;"
"they will not want us, Peter, at the Manor,

with all this talk of plague;" "but they are
Christian folk and she is kin, make ready,
she is weak, some say, with child,

although her Lord left here, a year ago -" 9.
"hist- he returned and made a secret visit,
on the Queen's business -" " you know he died of fever,

in New Spain;" " no matter; how can I drag her away;
to her, the very paving-stones are sacred
and London is a holy city to her."

xIII

I can not remember, only that my name
was Elizabeth Dyer; I can not remember my husband,
only my lover; I faintly remember old nurse Agatha

and her husband, who had been our house-servant
and now carried a halberd at the Tower ;
I can not remember how we got away,

I can remember a dead child but I never saw it,
and maybe, it wasn't dead, after all,
I was too ill to remember ;

Agatha was herself, a Tower, things were hidden
under flowing mantles, in those days,
and strange, alien farthingales, and Agatha put me
to bed, anyway ;
I was delerious, and I talked (she said) of a
and men with horns (devils, she thought purple tent,
she thought, I meant )

I was delerious and I talked ( she said)
of a purple tent,
and men with horns ( devils, she thought, I meant )
and stars and lilies and the Aventine.

XIV

10.

I had my mother's Missel, but the prayers
fluttered against the dark and broke and fell,
for this too, was anathema and cursed,

the good Queen had instructed all of us,
to do away with painted images,
the brevary and the Latin and the Mass;

but there were furtive, secret worshippers,
we were suspect, in that I shared the curse
that fell upon my Lord and atheists;

Hieronymus, pity is, Agnes, Lucy, Help; fluttered,
the very names were potent but they fell and broke;
fell and broke, like aimless birds, lost

on a continent that lured them north,
that later, in the winter, would have drawn them back
to sun and sand, the Mystery and Egypt.

XV

I hardly knew my Lord, true we had met
in sudden frenzy, parted in the dark,
and all the rest was mystery and a portent;

none had stood higher in the Queen's respect,
name England and you know his name,
Agatha sheltered us, he came and went;

no shadow followed us until the last;
I drew him to me through my uncle's Art,
though I knew little of it, at his death,

he said, he named the Seraphim, said the future would encompass
separate yet together with their wings; us,
"Sir Edward Dyer's niece? You mean that

you mean that Edward Dyer who was disgraced?
an alchymist who told the Queen the truth?
but where is she? " somehow he found me out;

perhaps it was not difficult, "her name II,"
"her name, her reputation ?"
"almost a nun; she lives with two old servants
near the Tower; her husband's in New Spain."

XVI

They spoke his name across the candles,
the goblets stood unmoving, on the table
and the table stood and those same cups

I always loved, the fruit-bowl, the decanter;
the candle-flames burned straight, they never moved,
I thought an earthquake shook the house

but it was I who trembled when my uncle spoke,
(the candle-flames burned straight, they never moved),
"you must have heard talk of this in the town";

my cousin answered, "let her forget the town -
they said, he bribed the gate-keepers,
and came, came and went out of the Tower,

but never far; they even say, he could have
he could have got away by sea,
but honoured his parole";

(and now the wind was beating in my face
and it was dark, and I was clutching at an empty
and salt of my tears mingled with its salt);

I think I thanked my cousin for he broke an apple,
I always thought this was a clever trick
when were children;

I think he smiled,
remembering my past effort and defeat;
"Lizeth", he said, " drink your red wine, eat this."

XVII

12.

Lizeth ? was Lizeth, Lilith in the Tree ?
anger had drawn me back and out of time,
but now, I see in-time and passionately ;

I would recall the symbols, name the Powers,
invoke the Angels, Tetragrammaton ;

I am far from her now, but she is near,

with its letters,

chalking her circle/ on the attic floor ;

step in it, Lizeth, dare Elizabeth Dyer,

to ponder on the secrets, writ in fire,

in the old book you found in the oak-chest;

"our uncle's book," the cousin said and laughed,

"for this, he was disgraced", and read a list

of names, "exciting stuff -

let's call up Lucifer - do you remember how

we ran away and hid here, long ago ? "

XVIII

He dragged me through the hedge,

"you used to laugh," he said, "Lizeth,

laugh and forget, be glad ; "

he kissed my face, "my flower, you are too pale,

I'll get you eclantine and the red pinks,

that we called sops-in-wine - do you remember ? "

a bird whistled and a bird replied,

"so you see, everywhere, two and two," he said,

"under the blossoming trees, the chestnut-spire,

must

the pear, you mused have missed the garden,

that long year, London was always drear;

he drew me down beside him on the grass,

and he unfastened shoulder-clasp and band,

and cupped my breasts within his firm young hands,

"so here" he said, "are poenies- and here - no rose is

half so dear."