The Power of Poetry

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0:00:27 > 0:00:31Now that I, tying thy glass mask tightly,

0:00:31 > 0:00:34may gaze through these faint smokes curling whitely,

0:00:34 > 0:00:37as thou pliest thy trade in this devil's smithy,

0:00:37 > 0:00:41which is the poison to poison her, prithee?

0:00:41 > 0:00:45He is with her, and they know that I know where they are,

0:00:45 > 0:00:48what they do.

0:00:48 > 0:00:51They believe my tears flow while they laugh,

0:00:51 > 0:00:52laugh at me,

0:00:52 > 0:00:56at me fled to the drear empty church to pray God in, for them!

0:00:56 > 0:00:58I am here,

0:00:58 > 0:01:02grind away, moisten and mash up thy paste,

0:01:02 > 0:01:05pound at thy powder, I am not in haste.

0:01:05 > 0:01:08Better sit thus and observe thy strange things

0:01:08 > 0:01:10than go where men wait me and dance at the King's.

0:01:10 > 0:01:13That in the mortar, you call it a gum?

0:01:14 > 0:01:20Ah, the brave tree whence such gold oozings come,

0:01:20 > 0:01:23and yonder soft phial, the exquisite blue,

0:01:23 > 0:01:26sure to taste sweetly, is that poison too?

0:01:26 > 0:01:30Had I but all of them, thee and thy treasures,

0:01:30 > 0:01:34what a wild crowd of invisible pleasures!

0:01:34 > 0:01:36To carry pure death in an earring,

0:01:36 > 0:01:41a casket, a signet, a fan-mount, a filigree-basket.

0:01:42 > 0:01:45Soon, at the King's, a mere lozenge to give,

0:01:45 > 0:01:49and Pauline should have just thirty minutes to live.

0:01:49 > 0:01:52But to light a pastille

0:01:52 > 0:01:56and Elise with her head and her breast and her arms

0:01:56 > 0:01:59and her hands, should drop dead.

0:01:59 > 0:02:00Quick, is it finished?

0:02:00 > 0:02:06The colour's too grim. Why not soft like the phial's, enticing and dim?

0:02:06 > 0:02:11Let it brighten her drink, let her turn it and stir

0:02:11 > 0:02:14and try it and taste, ere she fix and prefer.

0:02:15 > 0:02:17What a drop.

0:02:17 > 0:02:20She's not little, no minion like me.

0:02:20 > 0:02:22That's why she ensnared him.

0:02:22 > 0:02:25This never will free the soul from those masculine eyes.

0:02:25 > 0:02:29Say no to that pulse's magnificent come and go.

0:02:29 > 0:02:32For only last night, as they whispered,

0:02:32 > 0:02:34I brought my own eyes to bear on her so

0:02:34 > 0:02:38that I thought, could I keep them one half-minute fixed,

0:02:38 > 0:02:41she would fall, shrivelled.

0:02:41 > 0:02:44She fell not. Yet this does it all.

0:02:49 > 0:02:51Not that I bid you spare her the pain.

0:02:51 > 0:02:54Let death be felt and the proof remain.

0:02:54 > 0:02:58Brand, burn up, bite into its grace.

0:02:58 > 0:03:00He is sure to remember her dying face.

0:03:03 > 0:03:05Is it done?

0:03:05 > 0:03:08Take my mask off! Nay, be not morose.

0:03:08 > 0:03:11It kills her, and this prevents seeing it close.

0:03:11 > 0:03:13The delicate droplet,

0:03:13 > 0:03:16my whole fortune's fee.

0:03:16 > 0:03:18If it hurts her, beside,

0:03:18 > 0:03:20can it ever hurt me?

0:03:20 > 0:03:25Now take all my jewels, gorge gold to your fill.

0:03:25 > 0:03:29You may kiss me, old man, on my mouth if you will.

0:03:31 > 0:03:34But brush this dust off me, lest horror it brings.

0:03:34 > 0:03:37Ere I know it, next moment I dance at the King's.

0:03:43 > 0:03:46RETCHING

0:04:02 > 0:04:03Yeah, man, I told you, sorted.

0:04:03 > 0:04:07Listen, the guy will give you no more grief. Do you understand?

0:04:07 > 0:04:09All right, see you in a bit.

0:04:25 > 0:04:28My prime of youth is but a frost of cares.

0:04:30 > 0:04:33My feast of joy

0:04:33 > 0:04:35is but a dish of pain.

0:04:37 > 0:04:42My crop of corn is but a field of tares.

0:04:44 > 0:04:47And all my good

0:04:47 > 0:04:49is but vain hope of gain.

0:04:51 > 0:04:54The day is past,

0:04:54 > 0:04:56and yet I saw no sun.

0:04:59 > 0:05:00And now I live...

0:05:03 > 0:05:05..and now my life is done.

0:05:07 > 0:05:09My tale was heard

0:05:09 > 0:05:12and yet it was not told.

0:05:13 > 0:05:16My fruit is fallen,

0:05:16 > 0:05:18and yet my leaves are green.

0:05:21 > 0:05:24My youth is spent

0:05:24 > 0:05:26and yet I am not old.

0:05:27 > 0:05:30I saw the world

0:05:30 > 0:05:32and yet I was not seen.

0:05:34 > 0:05:35My thread is cut...

0:05:37 > 0:05:40..and yet it is not spun.

0:05:43 > 0:05:45And now I live...

0:05:46 > 0:05:49..and now my life is done.

0:05:49 > 0:05:53I sought my death

0:05:53 > 0:05:56and found it in my womb.

0:05:57 > 0:06:00I looked for life

0:06:00 > 0:06:02and saw it was a shade.

0:06:04 > 0:06:06I trod the earth...

0:06:08 > 0:06:10..and knew it was my tomb.

0:06:12 > 0:06:14And now I die...

0:06:15 > 0:06:17..and now I was but made.

0:06:20 > 0:06:23My glass is full,

0:06:23 > 0:06:25and now my glass is run.

0:06:27 > 0:06:28And now I live...

0:06:30 > 0:06:32..and now my life is done.

0:06:51 > 0:06:55It little profits that an idle king

0:06:55 > 0:06:58by this still hearth,

0:06:58 > 0:07:02among these barren crags,

0:07:02 > 0:07:05matched with an aged wife...

0:07:06 > 0:07:12..I mete and dole unequal laws unto a savage race,

0:07:12 > 0:07:18that hoard and sleep and feed, and know not me.

0:07:24 > 0:07:28I cannot rest from travel.

0:07:28 > 0:07:32I will drink life to the lees.

0:07:32 > 0:07:37All times I have enjoyed greatly, have suffered greatly,

0:07:37 > 0:07:41both with those that loved me, and alone.

0:07:41 > 0:07:46On shore, and when through scudding drifts

0:07:46 > 0:07:51the rainy Hyades vexed the dim sea.

0:07:51 > 0:07:56I am become a name, for always roaming with a hungry heart

0:07:56 > 0:07:59much have I seen and known.

0:07:59 > 0:08:01Cities of men

0:08:01 > 0:08:03and manners,

0:08:03 > 0:08:08climates, councils, governments.

0:08:08 > 0:08:13Myself not least, but honoured of them all,

0:08:13 > 0:08:18and drunk delight of battle with my peers,

0:08:18 > 0:08:22far on the ringing plains of windy Troy.

0:08:24 > 0:08:29I am a part of all that I have met,

0:08:29 > 0:08:33yet all experience is an arch

0:08:33 > 0:08:38where through gleams that untravelled world,

0:08:38 > 0:08:43whose margin fades forever and forever when I move.

0:08:45 > 0:08:50How dull it is to pause, to make an end,

0:08:50 > 0:08:54to rust unburnished, not to shine in use,

0:08:54 > 0:08:57as though to breathe were life.

0:08:59 > 0:09:03Life piled on life were all too little,

0:09:03 > 0:09:05and of one to me.

0:09:05 > 0:09:11Little remains, but every hour is saved from that eternal silence,

0:09:11 > 0:09:14something more, a bringer of new things,

0:09:14 > 0:09:20and vile it were for some three suns to store and hoard myself,

0:09:20 > 0:09:24and this grey spirit yearning in desire

0:09:24 > 0:09:27to follow knowledge like a sinking star,

0:09:27 > 0:09:31beyond the utmost bound of human thought.

0:09:41 > 0:09:43This is my son...

0:09:45 > 0:09:48..mine own Telemachus,

0:09:48 > 0:09:52to whom I leave the sceptre and the isle,

0:09:52 > 0:09:55Well-loved of me,

0:09:55 > 0:09:58discerning to fulfil this labour,

0:09:58 > 0:10:01by slow prudence to make mild a rugged people,

0:10:01 > 0:10:06and through soft degrees subdue them to the useful and the good.

0:10:08 > 0:10:11Most blameless is he,

0:10:11 > 0:10:14centred in the sphere of common duties,

0:10:14 > 0:10:20decent not to fail in offices of tenderness,

0:10:20 > 0:10:27and pay meet adoration to my household gods when I am gone.

0:10:28 > 0:10:31He works his work,

0:10:31 > 0:10:33I mine.

0:10:36 > 0:10:38There lies the port.

0:10:38 > 0:10:41The vessel puffs her sail.

0:10:41 > 0:10:45There gloom the dark broad seas.

0:10:45 > 0:10:51My mariners, souls that have toiled and wrought and thought with me,

0:10:51 > 0:10:53that ever with a frolic welcome

0:10:53 > 0:10:56took the thunder and the sunshine,

0:10:56 > 0:10:59and opposed free hearts, free foreheads.

0:10:59 > 0:11:03You and I are old.

0:11:03 > 0:11:07Old age hath yet his honour and his toil.

0:11:07 > 0:11:10Death closes all,

0:11:10 > 0:11:13but something ere the end,

0:11:13 > 0:11:18some work of noble note may yet be done,

0:11:18 > 0:11:23not unbecoming men that strove with gods.

0:11:23 > 0:11:29The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks. The long day wanes.

0:11:30 > 0:11:33The slow moon climbs.

0:11:33 > 0:11:39The deep moans round with many voices.

0:11:39 > 0:11:44Come, my friends, 'tis not too late to seek a newer world.

0:11:44 > 0:11:50Push off and sitting well in order smite the sounding furrows,

0:11:50 > 0:11:54for my purpose holds to sail beyond the sunset,

0:11:54 > 0:11:59and the bars of all the western stars until I die.

0:12:00 > 0:12:02It may be

0:12:02 > 0:12:05that the gulfs will wash us down.

0:12:07 > 0:12:12It may be we shall touch the happy isles

0:12:12 > 0:12:16and see the great Achilles whom we knew.

0:12:16 > 0:12:19Though much is taken,

0:12:19 > 0:12:21much abides,

0:12:21 > 0:12:25and though we are not now that strength

0:12:25 > 0:12:30which in old days moved earth and heaven,

0:12:30 > 0:12:32that which we are, we are.

0:12:32 > 0:12:38One equal temper of heroic hearts

0:12:38 > 0:12:41made weak by time and fate,

0:12:41 > 0:12:44but strong in will

0:12:44 > 0:12:46to strive,

0:12:46 > 0:12:49to seek, to find,

0:12:49 > 0:12:52and not to yield.

0:12:52 > 0:12:53Ulysses!

0:13:05 > 0:13:09It little profits that an idle king

0:13:09 > 0:13:14by this still hearth, among these barren crags,

0:13:14 > 0:13:17matched with an aged wife,

0:13:17 > 0:13:22I mete and dole unequal laws unto a savage race,

0:13:22 > 0:13:27that hoard and sleep and feed, and know not me.

0:13:29 > 0:13:33I cannot rest from travel.

0:13:33 > 0:13:37I will drink life to the lees.

0:13:38 > 0:13:44All times I have enjoyed greatly, have suffered greatly,

0:13:44 > 0:13:48both with those that loved me, and alone.

0:13:48 > 0:13:52COUGHS

0:13:52 > 0:13:54On shore,

0:13:54 > 0:14:01and when through scudding drifts the rainy Hyades vexed the dim sea.

0:14:02 > 0:14:06I am become a name,

0:14:06 > 0:14:10for always roaming with a hungry heart

0:14:10 > 0:14:13much have I seen and known.

0:14:13 > 0:14:15Cities of men

0:14:15 > 0:14:19and manners, climates, councils, governments.

0:14:19 > 0:14:22Myself not least,

0:14:22 > 0:14:24but honoured of them all,

0:14:24 > 0:14:28and drunk delight of battle with my peers,

0:14:28 > 0:14:32far on the ringing plains of windy Troy.

0:14:33 > 0:14:38I am a part of all that I have met,

0:14:38 > 0:14:40yet all experience is an arch

0:14:40 > 0:14:43where through gleams that untravelled world,

0:14:43 > 0:14:47whose margin fades forever and forever when I move.

0:14:50 > 0:14:57How dull it is to pause, to make an end,

0:14:57 > 0:15:02to rust unburnished, not to shine in use,

0:15:02 > 0:15:05as though to breathe were life.

0:15:05 > 0:15:07COUGHS

0:15:07 > 0:15:11Life piled on life were all too little,

0:15:11 > 0:15:14and of one to me.

0:15:14 > 0:15:16Little remains...

0:15:17 > 0:15:23..but every hour is saved from that eternal silence,

0:15:23 > 0:15:26something more,

0:15:26 > 0:15:29a bringer of new things,

0:15:29 > 0:15:34and vile it were for some three suns to store and hoard myself,

0:15:34 > 0:15:39and this grey spirit yearning in desire

0:15:39 > 0:15:43to follow knowledge like a sinking star,

0:15:43 > 0:15:46beyond the utmost bound of human thought.

0:15:51 > 0:15:52This is my son...

0:15:54 > 0:15:57..mine own Telemachus,

0:15:57 > 0:16:01to whom I leave the sceptre and the isle,

0:16:01 > 0:16:03Well-loved of me...

0:16:05 > 0:16:09..discerning to fulfil this labour,

0:16:09 > 0:16:14by slow prudence to make mild a rugged people,

0:16:14 > 0:16:19and through soft degrees subdue them to the useful and the good.

0:16:21 > 0:16:23Most blameless is he,

0:16:23 > 0:16:27centred in the sphere of common duties,

0:16:27 > 0:16:32decent not to fail in offices of tenderness,

0:16:32 > 0:16:38and pay meet adoration to my household gods when I am gone.

0:16:40 > 0:16:46He works his work, I mine.

0:16:51 > 0:16:53There lies the port.

0:16:53 > 0:16:56The vessel puffs her sail.

0:16:56 > 0:17:01There gloom the dark broad seas.

0:17:01 > 0:17:07My mariners, souls that have toiled and wrought and thought with me,

0:17:07 > 0:17:12that ever with a frolic welcome took the thunder and the sunshine,

0:17:12 > 0:17:15and opposed free hearts, free foreheads.

0:17:15 > 0:17:18You and I are old.

0:17:18 > 0:17:23Old age hath yet his honour and his toil.

0:17:23 > 0:17:26Death closes all,

0:17:26 > 0:17:28but something ere the end,

0:17:28 > 0:17:33some work of noble note may yet be done,

0:17:33 > 0:17:37not unbecoming men that strove with gods.

0:17:40 > 0:17:44The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks.

0:17:45 > 0:17:49The long day wanes.

0:17:49 > 0:17:52The slow moon climbs.

0:17:52 > 0:17:56The deep moans round with many voices.

0:17:58 > 0:18:00Come, my friends,

0:18:00 > 0:18:04'tis not too late to seek a newer world.

0:18:04 > 0:18:09Push off and sitting well in order smite the sounding furrows,

0:18:09 > 0:18:13for my purpose holds to sail beyond the sunset,

0:18:13 > 0:18:18and the bars of all the western stars until I die.

0:18:23 > 0:18:29It may be that the gulfs will wash us down.

0:18:29 > 0:18:30It may be

0:18:30 > 0:18:33we shall touch the happy isles

0:18:33 > 0:18:37and see the great Achilles whom we knew.

0:18:38 > 0:18:40Though much is taken,

0:18:40 > 0:18:43much abides,

0:18:43 > 0:18:47and though we are not now that strength

0:18:47 > 0:18:51which in old days moved earth and heaven,

0:18:51 > 0:18:55that which we are, we are.

0:18:55 > 0:19:01One equal temper of heroic hearts

0:19:01 > 0:19:05made weak by time and fate,

0:19:05 > 0:19:08but strong in will

0:19:08 > 0:19:10to strive,

0:19:10 > 0:19:12to seek,

0:19:12 > 0:19:15to find,

0:19:15 > 0:19:17and not to yield.

0:19:30 > 0:19:32O Melia,

0:19:32 > 0:19:35my dear, this does everything crown,

0:19:35 > 0:19:40who could have supposed I should meet you in town?

0:19:40 > 0:19:45And whence such fair garments, such prosperity?

0:19:45 > 0:19:50O didn't you know I'd been ruined?

0:19:50 > 0:19:51..said she.

0:19:51 > 0:19:56You left us in tatters, without shoes or socks,

0:19:56 > 0:20:00tired of digging potatoes, and spudding up docks.

0:20:00 > 0:20:07And now you've gay bracelets and bright feathers three.

0:20:07 > 0:20:11Yes, that's how we dress when we're ruined...

0:20:12 > 0:20:14..said she.

0:20:14 > 0:20:19At home in the barton you said "thee" and "thou",

0:20:19 > 0:20:21and "thik oon" and "theas oon" and "t'other",

0:20:21 > 0:20:27but now your talking quite fits 'ee for "high company".

0:20:27 > 0:20:30Some polish is gained with one's ruin,

0:20:30 > 0:20:32said she.

0:20:32 > 0:20:38Your hands were like paws then, your face blue and bleak,

0:20:38 > 0:20:42but now I'm bewitched by your delicate cheek,

0:20:42 > 0:20:47and your little gloves fit as on any lady.

0:20:47 > 0:20:52- We never do work when we're ruined, - said she.

0:20:52 > 0:20:56You used to call home life a hag-ridden dream,

0:20:56 > 0:20:59and you'd sigh and you'd sock,

0:20:59 > 0:21:04but at present you seem to know not of megrims or melancholy.

0:21:04 > 0:21:09True. One's pretty lively when ruined,

0:21:09 > 0:21:12said she.

0:21:12 > 0:21:15I wish I had feathers...

0:21:16 > 0:21:18..a fine sweeping gown,

0:21:18 > 0:21:23and a delicate face, and could strut about town.

0:21:23 > 0:21:25My dear,

0:21:25 > 0:21:30a raw country girl such as you be cannot quite expect that.

0:21:31 > 0:21:32You ain't ruined...

0:21:34 > 0:21:36..said she.

0:21:54 > 0:22:01Had we but world enough, and time, this coyness, Lady, were no crime.

0:22:01 > 0:22:06We would sit down and think which way to walk and pass our long love's day.

0:22:06 > 0:22:09Thou by the Indian Ganges' side

0:22:09 > 0:22:11shouldst rubies find.

0:22:11 > 0:22:13I by the tide of Humber would complain.

0:22:13 > 0:22:19I would love you ten years before the flood, and you should,

0:22:19 > 0:22:23if you please, refuse

0:22:23 > 0:22:25till the conversion of the Jews.

0:22:25 > 0:22:32My vegetable love should grow vaster than empires, and more slow,

0:22:32 > 0:22:35and hundred years should go to praise thine eyes

0:22:35 > 0:22:39and on thy forehead gaze.

0:22:39 > 0:22:43Two hundred to adore each breast, but thirty thousand to the rest.

0:22:45 > 0:22:47An age at least to every part,

0:22:47 > 0:22:50and the last age should show your heart.

0:22:50 > 0:22:55For, Lady, you deserve this state, nor would I love at lower rate.

0:22:55 > 0:23:00But at my back I always hear time's winged chariot hurrying near,

0:23:00 > 0:23:06and yonder all before us lie deserts of vast eternity.

0:23:06 > 0:23:09Thy beauty shall no more be found,

0:23:09 > 0:23:13nor in thy marble vault shall sound my echoing song.

0:23:13 > 0:23:17Then worms shall try that long preserved virginity...

0:23:19 > 0:23:24...and your quaint honour turn to dust, and into ashes all my lust.

0:23:24 > 0:23:30The grave's a fine and private place, but none, I think, do there embrace.

0:23:30 > 0:23:36Now therefore, while the youthful hue sits on thy skin like morning dew,

0:23:36 > 0:23:42and while thy willing soul transpires at every pore with instant fires,

0:23:42 > 0:23:47now let us sport as well we may, and now, like amorous birds of prey,

0:23:47 > 0:23:53rather at once our time devour than languish in his slow-chapt power.

0:23:53 > 0:23:58Let us roll all our strength and all our sweetness up into one ball...

0:24:01 > 0:24:04..and tear our pleasures with rough strife

0:24:04 > 0:24:06through the iron gates of life.

0:24:06 > 0:24:08Thus, though we cannot make our sun stand still,

0:24:08 > 0:24:09yet we will make him run.

0:24:17 > 0:24:21Had we but world enough, and time,

0:24:21 > 0:24:24this coyness, Lady, were no crime.

0:24:24 > 0:24:30We would sit down and think which way to walk and pass our long love's day.

0:24:30 > 0:24:35Thou by the Indian Ganges' side shouldst rubies find.

0:24:35 > 0:24:38I by the tide of Humber would complain.

0:24:38 > 0:24:42I would love you ten years before the flood,

0:24:42 > 0:24:49and you should, if you please, refuse till the conversion of the Jews.

0:24:49 > 0:24:55My vegetable love should grow vaster than empires, and more slow,

0:24:55 > 0:25:00and hundred years should go to praise thine eyes and on thy forehead gaze.

0:25:00 > 0:25:06Two hundred to adore each breast, but thirty thousand to the rest.

0:25:06 > 0:25:12An age at least to every part, and the last age should show your heart.

0:25:12 > 0:25:19For, Lady, you deserve this state, nor would I love at lower rate.

0:25:25 > 0:25:31But at my back I always hear time's winged chariot hurrying near,

0:25:31 > 0:25:36and yonder all before us lie deserts of vast eternity.

0:25:36 > 0:25:40Thy beauty shall no more be found,

0:25:40 > 0:25:46nor in thy marble vault shall sound my echoing song.

0:25:46 > 0:25:50Then worms shall try that long preserved virginity...

0:25:53 > 0:25:57..and your quaint honour turn to dust,

0:25:57 > 0:26:00and into ashes all my lust.

0:26:00 > 0:26:07The grave's a fine and private place, but none, I think, do there embrace.

0:26:07 > 0:26:14Now therefore, while the youthful hue sits on thy skin like morning dew,

0:26:14 > 0:26:20and while thy willing soul transpires at every pore with instant fires...

0:26:22 > 0:26:28..now let us sport us while we may, and now, like amorous birds of prey,

0:26:28 > 0:26:35rather at once our time devour than languish in his slow-chapt power.

0:26:35 > 0:26:41Let us roll all our strength and all our sweetness up into one ball,

0:26:41 > 0:26:45and tear our pleasures with rough strife

0:26:45 > 0:26:48through the iron gates of life.

0:26:48 > 0:26:55Thus, though we cannot make our sun stand still,

0:26:55 > 0:26:58yet we will make him run.

0:27:18 > 0:27:21Go, lovely rose.

0:27:21 > 0:27:25Tell her that wastes her time, and me,

0:27:25 > 0:27:30that now she knows, when I resemble her to thee,

0:27:30 > 0:27:33how sweet and fair she seems to be.

0:27:35 > 0:27:38Tell her that's young,

0:27:38 > 0:27:40and shuns to have her graces spied,

0:27:40 > 0:27:45that hadst thou sprung in deserts where no men abide,

0:27:45 > 0:27:48thou must have uncommended died.

0:27:50 > 0:27:55Small is the worth of beauty from the light retired.

0:27:55 > 0:28:01Bid her come forth, suffer herself to be desired,

0:28:01 > 0:28:05and not blush so to be admired.

0:28:05 > 0:28:08Then die,

0:28:08 > 0:28:12that she the common fate of all things rare

0:28:12 > 0:28:19may read in thee how small a part of time they share,

0:28:19 > 0:28:22that are so wondrous,

0:28:22 > 0:28:26sweet and fair.

0:28:34 > 0:28:36Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

0:28:36 > 0:28:39E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk