Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, CAMEO, by CHARLES MARIE RENE LECONTE DE LISLE


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

CAMEO, by             Poem Explanation         Poet's Biography
First Line: Long shall he live thro' time remembered
Last Line: With thrust of tail and fin.
Subject(s): Goddesses & Gods; Mythology; Sea; Ocean


LONG shall he live thro' time rememberéd
By all the happy gods! Whose sure hand knew
Over the polished onyx-stone to spread
These ripples on the blue.

Here, with the sun, soft with bewildered eyes
Such as a young and joyous queen might have,
Behold the swooning Cyprian goddess rise
Out of the syren wave.

Naked she is; her rosy breasts invade
The surging waters; and her throat divine
Is looped about with silver-woven braid
The cloven surges twine.

Her golden tresses on the sea a-swim
Are not in garland or in fillet bound;
Her body shines like some pale lily slim
Amid the violets found.

She laughs and gambols, and the dolphins gay
The godlike radiance of her gaze to win,
Stir up the surge upon her watery way
With thrust of tail and fin.





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