Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE HOUSE OF LIFE: 88. HERO'S LAMP, by DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI


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THE HOUSE OF LIFE: 88. HERO'S LAMP, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: That lamp thou fill'st in eros' name tonight
Last Line: O brother, what brought love to them or thee?
Alternate Author Name(s): Rossetti, Gabriel Charles Dante
Subject(s): Hero And Leander


THAT lamp thou fill'st in Eros' name to-night,
O Hero, shall the Sestian augurs take
To-morrow, and for drowned Leander's sake
To Anteros its fireless lip shall plight.
Aye, waft the unspoken vow: yet dawn's first light
On ebbing storm and life twice ebb'd must break;
While 'neath no sunrise, by the Avernian Lake,
Lo where Love walks, Death's pallid neophyte.

That lamp within Anteros' shadowy shrine
Shall stand unlit (for so the gods decree)
Till some one man the happy issue see
Of a life's love, and bid its flame to shine:
Which still may rest unfir'd; for, theirs or thine,
O brother, what brought love to them or thee?





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