Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, NEREID, by PAUL CAREL



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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

NEREID, by                    
First Line: Born of the sea's resistless surge
Last Line: Ten fathoms down.
Subject(s): Nereid (mythology); Sea; Ocean


Born of the sea's resistless surge,
Rocked where the foam-flecked hollows lie
Between the tumbling crests that scourge
The stormy petrel forth to fly—
A dark-eyed girl with wind-tossed hair,
A sea-nymph bred in Neptune's creed,
Now tames the hissing combers' speed,
Now plunges, laughing, to her lair
Ten fathoms down.

Ulysses knew her when he sailed
Aegean waters long ago;
The swart Phoenician traders hailed
Her slender form with eyes aglow.
Gay spirit of the sea, contrive
(When next you seek the gardens deep
Where green lights dance and sea-things sleep)
That I be with you when you dive
Ten fathoms down.





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