Classic and Contemporary Poetry
SAINT SEBASTIAN. ANTONELLO DA MESSINA. THE DRESDEN GALLERY, by KATHERINE HARRIS BRADLEY Poet's Biography First Line: Young sebastian stands beside a lofty tree Last Line: Little clouds obtrude %storm-accentuating light! Alternate Author Name(s): Field, Michael (with Edith Emma Cooper) Subject(s): Antonello Da Messina (1430-1479); Paintings And Painters; Sebastian, Saint (d. 288) | ||||||||
Young Sebastian stands beside a lofty tree , Rigid by the rigid trunk that branchlessly Lifts its column on the blue Of a heaven that takes Hyacinthine hue From a storm that wellnigh breaks. Shadiness and thunder dout the zenith's light, Yet a wide horizon still extends as bright As the lapis-lazuli; Poignant sunshine streams Over land and sky, With tempestuous, sunken beams. He who was a soldier late is standing now Stript and fastened to the tree that has no bough, In the centre of a court, That is bound by walls Fancifully wrought, Over which the daylight falls. Arch and chimney rise aloft into the air: On the balconies are hung forth carpets rare Of an Eastern, vivid red; Idle women lean Where the rugs are spread, Each with an indifferent mien. On the marble of the courtyard, fast asleep, Lies a brutish churl, his body in a heap; Two hard-hearted comrades prate Where a portal shows Distance blue and great, Stretching onward in repose. And between the shafts of sandy-coloured tone Slips a mother with her child: but all alone Stays Sebastian in his grief. What soul pities him! Who shall bring relief From the darts that pierce each limb? Naked, almost firm as sculpture, is his form, Nobly set below the burthen of the storm; Shadow, circling chin and cheek, Their ellipse defines, Then the shade grows weak And his face with noonday shines- Shines as olive marble that reflects the mere Radiance it receives upon a surface clear; For we see no blessedness On his visage pale, Turned in its distress Toward the heaven, without avail. Massive is his mouth; the upper lip is set In a pained, protesting curve: his eyes have met God within the darkening sky And dispute His will, Dark, remorselessly Fervent to dispute it still. The whole brow is hidden by the chestnut hair, That behind the back flows down in locks and there Changes to a deeper grain. Though his feet were strong, They are swoln with strain, For he has been standing long. Captive, stricken through by darts, yet armed with power That resents the coming on of its last hour, Sound in muscle is the boy, Whom his manhood fills With an acrid joy, Whom its violent pressure thrills. But this force implanted in him must be lost And its natural validity be crossed By a chill, disabling fate; He must stand at peace While his hopes abate, While his youth and vigour cease. At his feet a mighty pillar lies reversed; So the virtue of his sex is shattered, cursed: Here is martyrdom and not In the arrows' sting; This the bitter lot His soul is questioning. He, with body fresh for use, for pleasure fit, With its energies and needs together knit In an able exigence, Must endure the strife, Final and intense, Of necessity with life. Yet throughout this bold rebellion of the saint Noonday's brilliant air has carried no complaint. Lo, across the solitude Of the storm two white, Little clouds obtrude Storm-accentuating light! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...BLACK IS THE COLOR OF MY TRUE LOVE'S HAIR by REGINALD SHEPHERD SAINT SEBASTIAN by VALERY YAKOVLEVICH BRYUSOV LOVE SONG OF ST. SEBASTIAN by THOMAS STEARNS ELIOT METAMORPHOSES: 15. PERSEUS (SAINT SEBASTIAN) by WAYNE KOESTENBAUM SAINT SEBASTIAN by WILLIAM STANLEY MERWIN CYCLAMENS by KATHERINE HARRIS BRADLEY THE DANCERS by KATHERINE HARRIS BRADLEY A PALIMPSEST by KATHERINE HARRIS BRADLEY AFTER SOUFRIERE by KATHERINE HARRIS BRADLEY AN AEOLIAN HARP by KATHERINE HARRIS BRADLEY |
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