I mentioned last time I shared a sonnet by John Masefield, that some of his imagery has a sci-fi sense to me, and this is another; it reminds me of the futuristic films I’ve seen, even though it could also be illustrations form a historical story. However, it is the curious mixing of phrases such as ‘tuned planets’ and ‘monolith and pyle’ which brings to mind not just science fiction but science fantasy as well.
For, like an outcast from the city, I
Wander the desert strewn with traveller’s bones,
Having no comrade but the starry sky
Where the tuned planets ride their floating thrones.
I pass old ruins where the kings caroused
In cups long shards from vines long since decayed,
I tread the broken brick where queens were housed
In beauty’s time ere beauty was betrayed;
And in the ceaseless pitting of the sand
On monolith and pyle, I see the dawn,
Making those skeletons of beauty grand
By fire that comes as darkness is withdrawn;
And in that fire the art of men to come
Shines with such glow I bless my martyrdom.
Lois Elsden 