"A Princess of Mars on Earth" by A. F. Spackman
For L
He said he loved a Princess of Mars
But it seemed part of a once upon a time dream
her name recounted to him memories sweet-sad
Of a time when bliss could be found
merely enfolding the words with his hands
when the paper dreams he held
still held the promise of a simple delight
through a magic spell he was transported
into the world he craved to know
and there she was the promise
of something beyond him and his reach
the future
and it was vast and good
the boy is but a yesterday shadow within the man
in the same body but out of reach
he believes he is old and must now wear his trousers rolled
because Thomas Stearns said so
I know so little of him, but I see his reflection
in the inescapable dream of reality and its time-tabled detail
this is where he lives, surrounds himself with the worlds and words
and grieves
suspended in each moment-to-moment
though his unhappy unfeeling seems seamlessly unending
he skips from one diversion to the next
possessed by a compulsive craving and boredom
though his is a game so easily played, so easily lost or won
just a habitual repetition
nothing ever new, to charm this critical eye
not even the luster of yet another dream none have qualified
when it comes through his door
he musters no faith for ingenuous foolery
She wonders if that’s just his cover story
because he tells her his tale of a former delight,
half-forgotten amidst customary, involuntary protocols
he wields power in his dominion
does he still crave the sweet redemption
of the hope and the promise
who shall teach this man how to praise?
*“In the prison of his days”?
Will she, or, when she falters
And in her distress and unsuccess, forgets
Her dignity, that her heart was virtuous and noble and good
That she knows the right course to follow
How can she make a sea-side from the desert of the heart
How can she make a kingdom by the sea?
How can she teach who is not free?
He said he loved a Princess of Mars
And that it is easy to have loved and love again
Else, a sea nymph, La Figlia Che Piange
Dejah Thoris,
The virtuous and beautiful and noble and good
Weavers of sunlight in their hair
And seductive child-women who trample the heart
All dreams and shadows
Protected forever in the verse
But I must live through this curse
Lovely Lolita, Veronica, and Annabel lee
What are they to me?
What concern should make him see
I am a Princess of Mars stranded on Earth
Friendless is no kind place to be.
*from WH Auden's "In Memory of WB Yeats"
Allusions:
A Princess of Mars is a book by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Thomas Stearns: Thomas Stearns, or T.S. Elliot, a poet
Else: a character in Mararthon Man by William Goldman
a sea nymph: from Edgar Allen Poe and Lolita
La Figlia Che Piange: a poem by T.S. Elliot
Dejah Thoris: Burrough's princess of Mars
I wrote this back in 2001 for a friend.