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. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE BRIDGE: 7. THE TUNNEL by HAROLD HART CRANE STAR-TALK by ROBERT RANKE GRAVES BURNHAM-BEECHES by HENRY LUTTRELL SONNET FOR A PICTURE by ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE THE WOLD WAGGON by WILLIAM BARNES THE HEART'S COLLOQUY by WILLIAM ROSE BENET |