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1819–1875

SONNET

Charles Kingsley

Oh, thou hadst been a wife for Shakspeare's self! No head, save some world-genius, ought to rest Above the treasures of that perfect breast, Or nightly draw fresh light from those keen stars

Through which thy soul awes ours: yet thou art bound — O waste of nature!— to a craven hound; To shameless lust, and childish greed of pelf; Athene to a Satyr: was that link

Forged by The Father's hand? Man's reason bars The bans which God allowed.— Ay, so we think: Forgetting, thou hadst weaker been, full blest, Than thus made strong by suffering; and more great

In martyrdom, than throned as Caesar's mate.

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SONNET · Charles Kingsley · Poetry Cove