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1837–1909

CYRIL TOURNEUR

Algernon Charles Swinburne

A sea that heaves with horror of the night, As maddened by the moon that hangs aghast With strain and torment of the ravening blast, Haggard as hell, a bleak blind bloody light;

No shore but one red reef of rock in sight, Whereon the waifs of many a wreck were cast And shattered in the fierce nights overpast Wherein more souls toward hell than heaven took flight;

And‘ twixt the shark-toothed rocks and swallowing shoals A cry as out of hell from all these souls Sent through the sheer gorge of the slaughtering sea, Whose thousand throats, full-fed with life by death,

Fill the black air with foam and furious breath; And over all these one star — Chastity.

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CYRIL TOURNEUR · Algernon Charles Swinburne · Poetry Cove