Pansies (Lawrence)

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These poems are called "Pansies" because they are rather "Pensées" than anything else. Pascal or La Bruyère wrote their "Pensées" in prose, but it has always seemed to me that a real thought, a single thought, not an argument, can only exist easily in verse, or in some poetic form. There is a didactic element about prose thoughts which makes them repellent, slightly bullying. "He who hath wife and children hath given hostages to fortune." There is a thought well put; but immediately it irritates by its assertiveness. It applies too direct to actual practical life. If it were put into poetry it wouldn't nag at us so practically. We don't want to be nagged at.

So I should wish these "Pansies" to be taken as thoughts rather than anything else; casual thoughts that are true while they are true and irrelevant when the mood and circumstance changes. I should like them to be as fleeting as pansies, which wilt so soon, and are so fascinating with their varied faces, while they last. And flowers, to my thinking, are not merely ​pretty-pretty. They have in their fragrance an earthiness of the humus and the corruptive earth from which they spring. And pansies, in their streaked faces, have a look of many things besides hearts-ease.

Some of the poems are perforce omitted—about a dozen from the bunch. When Scotland Yard seized the MS in the post, at the order of the Home Secretary, no doubt there was a rush of detectives, post-men, and Home Office clerks and heads, to pick out the most lurid blossoms. They must have been very disappointed. When I now read down the list of the omitted poems, and recall the dozen amusing, not terribly important bits of pansies which have had to stay out of print for fear a policeman might put his foot on them, I can only grin once more to think of the nanny-goat, nanny-goat in-a-white-petticoat silliness of it all. It is like listening to a Mrs. Caudle's curtain lecture in the next house, and wondering whether Mrs. Caudle is funnier, or Mr. Caudle; or whether they aren't both of them merely stale and tedious.

Anyhow I offer a bunch of pansies, not a wreath of immortelles. I don't want everlasting flowers, and I don't want to offer them to anybody else. A flower passes, and that perhaps is the best of it. If we can take it in its transcience, its breath, its maybe mephisto ​phelian, maybe palely ophelian face, the look it gives, the gesture of its full bloom, and the way it turns upon us to depart—that was the flower, we have had it, and no immortelle can give us anything in comparison. The same with the pansy poems; merely the breath of the moment, and one eternal moment easily contradicting the next eternal moment. Only don't nail the pansy down. You won't keep it any better if you do. Palma de Mallorca.

When Lawrence wrote "Pansies" he asked me: "You don't like them, do you?" And I, knowing from experience that camouflage of my reactions did not work, said: "They are so grim."

But I was wrong. It took another world war before these "Pansies" could bloom for me. I hope they will bloom for others.

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Our Day is Over		3
Hark in the Dusk!		3
Elephants in the Circus		4
Elephants Plodding		4
On the Drum		4
Two Performing Elephants		4
Twilight		5
Cups		6
Bowls		6
You		6
After Dark		7
To Let Go or to Hold on—?		7
Destiny		10
How Beastly the Bourgeois is—		10
Worm Either Way		13
Natural Complexion		15
The Oxford Voice		16
True Democracy		17
To Be Superior		18
Swan		19
Leda		20
Give Us Gods		20
Won't it be Strange—?		23
Spiral Flame		24
Let the Dead Bury Their Dead—		26
When Wilt Thou Teach the People—?		29
A Living		30
When I Went to the Film—		31
When I Went to the Circus—		32
Things Men Have Made—		36
Things Made by Iron—		36
New Houses, New Clothes—		37
Whatever Man Makes—		37 ​
We are Transmitters—		37
All that we have is Life—		39
Let Us Be Men—		39
Work		40
Why—		41
What Is He?		42
O Start a Revolution—		44
Moon Memory		44
There is Rain in Me—		45
Desire Goes Down Into the Sea—		45
The Sea, the Sea—		46
November by the Sea—		47
Old Song		48
Good Husbands Make Unhappy Wives—		48
Fight! O My Young Men—		48
It's Either you Fight or you Die—		50
Don'ts—		51
The Risen Lord		52
The Secret Waters—		55
Beware, O My Dear Young Men—		57
Obscenity		58
Sex Isn't Sin—		59
The Elephant is Slow to Mate—		61
Sex and Trust—		62
The Gazelle Calf—		63
Little Fish—		63
The Mosquito Knows—		63
Self-Pity		64
New Moon		64
Spray		64
Sea-Weed		65
My Enemy—		65
Touch		66
Noli Me Tangere—		66
Chastity		67
Let Us Talk, Let Us Laugh—		68
Touch Comes—		69
Leave Sex Alone—		70
The Mess of Love—		72 ​
Climb Down, O Lordly mind—		73
Ego-Bound		75
Jealousy		75
Fidelity		76
Know Deeply, Know Thyself More Deeply—		78
All I Ask—		80
The Universe Flows—		81
Underneath—		82
The Primal Passions—		83
Escape		86
The Root of our Evil—		86
The Ignoble Procession—		88
No Joy in Life—		88
Wild Things in Captivity—		89
Mournful Young Man—		90
Money-Madness—		91
Kill Money—		93
Men Are Not Bad—		93
Nottingham's New University—		94
I Am in a Novel—		95
No! Mr Lawrence!		96
Red-Herring		97
Our Moral Age—		98
When I Read Shakespeare—		98
Salt of the Earth—		99
Fresh Water		100
Peace and War—		100
Many Mansions—		101
Glory		102
Woe		102
Attila		103
What Would You Fight For?		103
Choice		104
Riches		105
Poverty		105
Noble		106
Wealth		106
Tolerance		107
Compari		107
Sick		108 ​
Dead People		108
Cerebral Emotions		109
Wellsian Futures		109
To Women, As Far As I'm Concerned		110
Blank		110
Elderly Discontented Women		111
Old People		112
The Grudge of the Old—		113
Beautiful Old Age—		114
Courage		115
Desire is Dead		116
When the Ripe Fruit Falls—		116
Elemental		117
Fire		118
I Wish I Knew a Woman—		118
Talk		119
The Effort of Love—		119
Can't be Borne—		120
Man Reaches a Point—		120
Grasshopper is a Burden—		121
Basta!		121
Tragedy		122
After all the Tragedies are over—		123
Nullus		124
Dies Iræ		125
Dies Illa		126
Stop It—		127
The Death of our Era		127
The New Word		129
Sun in Me		130
Be Still!		130
At Last—		131
Nemesis		132
The Optimist		133
The Third Thing		133
The Sane Universe		133
Fear of Society is the Root of All Evil		134
God		134
Sane and Insane		135
A Sane Revolution		135
Always this Paying—		137 ​
Poor Young Things—		137
A Played-Out Game—		138
Triumph		139
The Combative Spirit		139
Wages		142
Young Fathers		143
A Tale Told by an Idiot		144
Being Alive		144
Self-Protection		145
A Man		147
Lizard		148
Relativity		148
Space		149
Sun-Men		149
Sun-Women		150
Democracy		151
Aristocracy of the Sun		152
Conscience		152
The Middle Classes		153
Immorality		154
Censors		154
Man's Image		155
Immoral Man		155
Cowards		156
Think—!		156
Peacock		157
Paltry-Looking People—		157
Tarts		158
Latter-Day Sinners		158
Fate and the Younger Generation		159
As for me, I'm a Patriot		161
The Rose of England		161
England in 1929		163
Liberty's Old Old Story		163
New Brooms		164
Police Spies		164
Now It's Happened		164
Energetic Women		166
Film Passion		167
Female Coercion		167
Volcanic Venus		168
Wonderful Spiritual Women		169 ​
Poor Bit of a Wench!—		169
What Ails Thee?—		170
It's No Good!		171
Ships in Bottles		171
Know Thyself, and That Thou Art Mortal		174
What is a Man Without an Income?—		176
Canvassing for the Election		178
Altercation		179
Finding Your Level		180
Climbing Up		183
Conundrums		185
A Rise in the World—		186
Up He goes!—		187
The Saddest Day		189
Prestige		191
Have Done With It—		193
Henriette		194
Vitality		196
Willy Wet-Leg		198
Maybe—		198
Stand Up!—		199
Trust		200