IN a round cavern of glass, in steely water (None yet so comfortless appalled the day) A man-eel poised, his lacquer-skin disparted In desert reds and wharfy green; his eyes too Burned like beads of venom. Beyond the glass the torturer stood, with thrustings, Passes, grimaces, toothy grins, warped oeillades. To this black magic mania's eel retorted With fierce yet futile muzzle, and lancing darted In an electric rapine, against the wall Of glass, or life: those disputants of nothing So acidly attracting, lovingly loathing, Driven by cold radii, goblin lovers, seemed yet The difficult dumb-show of my generation. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...TO GALLANT FRANCE by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON ON A VOLUME OF SCHOLASTIC PHILOSOPHY by GEORGE SANTAYANA ON A LADY WHO FANCIED HERSELF A BEAUTY by CHARLES SACKVILLE (1637-1706) JUST A-RIDIN'! by ELWOOD ADAMS BACCHANALIA; OR, THE NEW AGE by MATTHEW ARNOLD THE FLOWERY ALCHEMIST by THOMAS LOVELL BEDDOES EULOGY by RICHARD EUGENE BURTON |