{"id":118,"date":"2008-04-06T09:35:48","date_gmt":"2008-04-06T08:35:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/juno-magic.fancrone.net\/blog\/2008\/04\/06\/inpm-6-atlantis\/"},"modified":"2016-12-10T10:56:40","modified_gmt":"2016-12-10T09:56:40","slug":"inpm-6-atlantis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/juno-magic.fancrone.net\/blog\/2008\/04\/06\/inpm-6-atlantis","title":{"rendered":"INPM #6: Atlantis"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Atlantis\u00c2\u00a0 Atlantis<\/strong><\/p>\n

Being set on the idea
\nOf getting to Atlantis,
\nYou have discovered of course
\nOnly the Ship of Fools is
\nMaking the voyage this year,
\nAs gales of abnormal force
\nAre predicted, and that you
\nMust therefore be ready to
\nBehave absurdly enough
\nTo pass for one of The Boys,
\nAt least appearing to love
\nHard liquor, horseplay and noise.<\/p>\n

Should storms, as may well happen,
\nDrive you to anchor a week
\nIn some old harbour-city
\nOf Ionia, then speak
\nWith her witty scholars, men
\nWho have proved there cannot be
\nSuch a place as Atlantis:
\nLearn their logic, but notice
\nHow its subtlety betrays
\nTheir enormous simple grief;
\nThus they shall teach you the ways
\nTo doubt that you may believe.<\/p>\n

If, later, you run aground
\nAmong the headlands of Thrace,
\nWhere with torches all night long
\nA naked barbaric race
\nLeaps frenziedly to the sound
\nOf conch and dissonant gong:
\nOn that stony savage shore
\nStrip off your clothes and dance, for
\nUnless you are capable
\nOf forgetting completely
\nAbout Atlantis, you will
\nNever finish your journey.<\/p>\n

Again, should you come to gay
\nCarthage or Corinth, take part
\nIn their endless gaiety;
\nAnd if in some bar a tart,
\nAs she strokes your hair, should say
\n“This is Atlantis, dearie,”
\nListen with attentiveness
\nTo her life-story: unless
\nYou become acquainted now
\nWith each refuge that tries to
\nCounterfeit Atlantis, how
\nWill you recognise the true?<\/p>\n

Assuming you beach at last
\nNear Atlantis, and begin
\nThat terrible trek inland
\nThrough squalid woods and frozen
\nThundras where all are soon lost;
\nIf, forsaken then, you stand,
\nDismissal everywhere,
\nStone and now, silence and air,
\nO remember the great dead
\nAnd honour the fate you are,
\nTravelling and tormented,
\nDialectic and bizarre.<\/p>\n

Stagger onward rejoicing;
\nAnd even then if, perhaps
\nHaving actually got
\nTo the last col, you collapse
\nWith all Atlantis shining
\nBelow you yet you cannot
\nDescend, you should still be proud
\nEven to have been allowed
\nJust to peep at Atlantis
\nIn a poetic vision:
\nGive thanks and lie down in peace,
\nHaving seen your salvation.<\/p>\n

All the little household gods
\nHave started crying, but say
\nGood-bye now, and put to sea.
\nFarewell, my dear, farewell: may
\nHermes, master of the roads,
\nAnd the four dwarf Kabiri,
\nProtect and serve you always;
\nAnd may the Ancient of Days
\nProvide for all you must do
\nHis invisible guidance,
\nLifting up, dear, upon you
\nThe light of His countenance.<\/p>\n

– W. H. Auden<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Overview: (Inter-)National Poetry Month 2008 \u00c2\u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00c2\u00a0 Atlantis Being set on the idea Of getting to Atlantis, You have discovered of course Only the Ship of Fools is Making the voyage this year, As gales of abnormal force Are predicted, and that you Must therefore be … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":194,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[38,211],"class_list":["post-118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-junomagic","tag-international-poetry-month","tag-poems"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/juno-magic.fancrone.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/juno-magic.fancrone.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/juno-magic.fancrone.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/juno-magic.fancrone.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/194"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/juno-magic.fancrone.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/juno-magic.fancrone.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12032,"href":"http:\/\/juno-magic.fancrone.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118\/revisions\/12032"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/juno-magic.fancrone.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/juno-magic.fancrone.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/juno-magic.fancrone.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}