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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE MIDNIGHT SWIM, by HANIEL (CLARK) LONG Poet Analysis Poet's Biography
First Line: Alchemy snared me with a spell
Last Line: Not horizontal, on a sea.
Subject(s): Swimming & Swimmers
First Line: Alchemy snared me with a spell
Last Line: Not horizontal, on a sea.
Subject(s): Swimming & Swimmers
Alchemy snared me with a spell,
Where heaven began, I could not tell,
Where water ended I could not see;
Both were above and under me.
For I was floating late and far
Where there was neither shore nor star.
The depthless valleys far below,
The ether's endless vertigo,
I fled from both. With senses dim
Like on in a primeval sleep,
I silently began to swim
Reptilian across the deep.
Suddenly loomed from the vast haze
A hill to meet my searching gaze,
And finding I could safely stand
I climbed, a man, to the dry land.
Then the warm air pressed round me
And in leafy fragrance drowned me.
I felt my rigid thews relent
In the more kindly element,
And I distinquished, solid, sweet,
The planet earth beneath my feet,
Calm that I at last might be
Vertical like bush and tree,
Not horizontal, on a sea.
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