Introduction • Translator’s Note • from NEW POEMS • David Sings For Saul • The Rose Window • God in the Middle Ages • Saint Sebastian • The Lace • Before the Summer rain • The King • The Island • Tombs of the Hetaerae • Orpheus, Eurydice, Hermes • Alcetis • The Last Judgment • Washing the Corpse • One of the Old Women • Lullaby • THE LIFE OF MARY • The Birth of Mary • The Presentation of Mary in the Temple • The Annunciation • The Visitation of Mary • Joseph’s Suspicion • Annunciation to the Shepherds • The Birth of Christ • Rest on the flight into Egypt • The Marriage at Cana • Before the Passion • Pieta • Quieting of Mary at the Resurrection • the Death of Mary • from THE UNCOLLECTED POEMS AND FRAGMENTS (1906-1926) • Improvisations of the Caprisian Winter • “To drink things dissolved and diluted...” • The Valley • “In the sun-accustomed lane...” • The Blessed • Mausoleum • “From time to time...” • “Never mind one day...” • “No, I’m not going to be destroyed...” • Autumn Evening • The Sick Child • From the Night Watches of Sister Godelieve • Walk at Night • “Oh in childhood, God, how easy you were...” • “Oh haven’t you known nights of love...” • Perseus • David • “Her smile had become...” • “Being, and confinement...” • Fragment of a Resurrection • To Lou Andreas-Salome • To the Awaited One • “Now we awaken with memories...” • The Raising of Lazarus • The Spanish Trilogy • “You must mourn for a long time...” • “In ignorance before the heavens of my life...” • Christ’s Descent into Hell • “Abandoned in the mountains of the heart...” • “Who can say, when I go to a window...” • “Wood pond, gentle, deep in self-communion...” • To Benvenuta • “The way water surfaces silently...” • Death • Requiem on the Death of a Boy • The Death of Moses • The Lord’s Words to John on Patmos • “We’re drawn to what is unaware of us...” • The Guest • Unfinished Elegy • The Hand • Baudelaire • “Regarding my answer I still don’t know...” • Vase Painting (Supper of the Dead) • “We are just mouth...” • “Loss too is ours...” • “Urns, tangled fruit of the poppy...” • “Oh, not to be excluded...” • “Now nothing can prevent me...” • “How should such a book not want to be...” • “Now it is time the gods stepped out...” • “Birds’ voices are starting to praise...” • Last Entry • Notes