free-verse248 lines

The Firemen's Ball

by Vachel Lindsay

Section One

"Give the engines room,

Give the engines room."

Louder, faster

The little band-master

Whips up the fluting,

Hurries up the tooting.

He thinks that he stands,

# To be read, or chanted, with the heavy buzzing bass

of fire-engines pumping. #

The reins in his hands,

In the fire-chief's place

In the night alarm chase.

The cymbals whang,

The kettledrums bang: -

# In this passage the reading or chanting

is shriller and higher. #

"Clear the street,

Clear the street,

Clear the street - Boom, boom.

In the evening gloom,

Give the engines room,

Lest souls be trapped

In a terrible tomb."

The sparks and the pine-brands

Whirl on high

From the black and reeking alleys

To the wide red sky.

Hear the hot glass crashing,

Hear the stone steps hissing.

Coal black streams

Down the gutters pour.

There are cries for help

From a far fifth floor.

For a longer ladder

Hear the fire-chief call.

Listen to the music

Of the firemen's ball.

Listen to the music

Of the firemen's ball.

# To be read or chanted in a heavy bass. #

"'Tis the

NIGHT

Of doom,"

Say the ding-dong doom-bells.

"NIGHT

Of doom,"

Say the ding-dong doom-bells.

Faster, faster

The red flames come.

"Hum grum," say the engines,

"Hum grum grum."

# Shriller and higher. #

"Buzz, buzz,"

Says the crowd.

"See, see,"

Calls the crowd.

"Look out,"

Yelps the crowd

And the high walls fall: -

Listen to the music

Of the firemen's ball.

Listen to the music

Of the firemen's ball.

# Heavy bass. #

"'Tis the

NIGHT

Of doom,"

Say the ding-dong doom-bells.

"NIGHT

Of doom,"

Say the ding-dong doom-bells.

Whangaranga, whangaranga,

Whang, whang, whang,

Clang, clang, clangaranga,

# Bass, much slower. #

Clang, clang, clang.

Clang - a - ranga -

Clang,

Clang.

Listen - to - the - music -

Of the firemen's ball -

Section Two

"Many's the heart that's breaking

If we could read them all

After the ball is over." (An old song.)

# To be read or sung slowly and softly,

in the manner of lustful, insinuating music. #

Scornfully, gaily

The bandmaster sways,

Changing the strain

That the wild band plays.

With a red and royal intoxication,

A tangle of sounds

And a syncopation,

Sweeping and bending

From side to side,

Master of dreams,

With a peacock pride.

A lord of the delicate flowers of delight

He drives compunction

Back through the night.

Dreams he's a soldier

Plumed and spurred,

And valiant lads

Arise at his word,

Flaying the sober

Thoughts he hates,

Driving them back

From the dream-town gates.

How can the languorous

Dancers know

The red dreams come

# To be read or chanted slowly and softly

in the manner of lustful insinuating music. #

When the good dreams go?

"'Tis the

NIGHT

Of love,"

Call the silver joy-bells,

"NIGHT

Of love,"

Call the silver joy-bells.

"Honey and wine,

Honey and wine.

Sing low, now, violins,

Sing, sing low,

Blow gently, wood-wind,

Mellow and slow.

Like midnight poppies

The sweethearts bloom.

Their eyes flash power,

Their lips are dumb.

Faster and faster

Their pulses come,

Though softer now

The drum-beats fall.

Honey and wine,

Honey and wine.

'Tis the firemen's ball,

'Tis the firemen's ball.

# With a climax of whispered mourning. #

"I am slain,"

Cries true-love

There in the shadow.

"And I die,"

Cries true-love,

There laid low.

"When the fire-dreams come,

The wise dreams go."

# Suddenly interrupting. To be read or sung in

a heavy bass. First eight lines as harsh as possible.

Then gradually musical and sonorous. #

BUT HIS CRY IS DROWNED

BY THE PROUD BAND-MASTER.

And now great gongs whang,

Sharper, faster,

And kettledrums rattle

And hide the shame

With a swish and a swirk

In dead love's name.

Red and crimson

And scarlet and rose

Magical poppies

The sweethearts bloom.

The scarlet stays

When the rose-flush goes,

And love lies low

In a marble tomb.

"'Tis the

NIGHT

Of doom,"

Call the ding-dong doom-bells.

"NIGHT

Of Doom,"

Call the ding-dong doom-bells.

# Sharply interrupting in a very high key. #

Hark how the piccolos still make cheer.

"'Tis a moonlight night in the spring of the year."

# Heavy bass. #

CLANGARANGA, CLANGARANGA,

CLANG... CLANG... CLANG.

CLANG... A... RANGA...

CLANG... CLANG... CLANG...

LISTEN... TO... THE... MUSIC...

OF... THE... FIREMEN'S BALL...

LISTEN... TO... THE... MUSIC...

OF... THE... FIREMEN'S... BALL....

Section Three

In Which, contrary to Artistic Custom, the moral of the piece is placed before the reader.

(From the first Khandaka of the Mahavagga: "There Buddha thus addressed his disciples: 'Everything, O mendicants, is burning. With what fire is it burning? I declare unto you it is burning with the fire of passion, with the fire of anger, with the fire of ignorance. It is burning with the anxieties of birth, decay and death, grief, lamentation, suffering and despair.... A disciple,... becoming weary of all that, divests himself of passion. By absence of passion, he is made free.'")

# To be intoned after the manner of a priestly service. #

I once knew a teacher,

Who turned from desire,

Who said to the young men

"Wine is a fire."

Who said to the merchants: -

"Gold is a flame

That sears and tortures

If you play at the game."

I once knew a teacher

Who turned from desire

Who said to the soldiers,

"Hate is a fire."

Who said to the statesmen: -

"Power is a flame

That flays and blisters

If you play at the game."

I once knew a teacher

Who turned from desire,

Who said to the lordly,

"Pride is a fire."

Who thus warned the revellers: -

"Life is a flame.

Be cold as the dew

Would you win at the game

With hearts like the stars,

With hearts like the stars."

# Interrupting very loudly for the last time. #

SO BEWARE,

SO BEWARE OF THE FIRE.

Clear the streets,

BOOM, BOOM,

Clear the streets,

BOOM, BOOM,

GIVE THE ENGINES ROOM,

LEST SOULS BE TRAPPED

IN A TERRIBLE TOMB.

SAYS THE SWIFT WHITE HORSE

TO THE SWIFT BLACK HORSE: -

"THERE GOES THE ALARM,

THERE GOES THE ALARM.

THEY ARE HITCHED, THEY ARE OFF,

THEY ARE GONE IN A FLASH,

AND THEY STRAIN AT THE DRIVER'S IRON ARM."

CLANG... A... RANGA.... CLANG... A... RANGA....

CLANG... CLANG... CLANG....

CLANG... A... RANGA.... CLANG... A... RANGA....

CLANG... CLANG... CLANG....

CLANG... A... RANGA.... CLANG... A... RANGA....

CLANG... CLANG... CLANG....