Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE SWIMMER OF NEMI (THE LAKE OF NEMI: SEPTEMBER), by WILLIAM SHARP Poet's Biography First Line: White through the azure Last Line: Curv'd like a flower o'er the waters of nemi. Alternate Author Name(s): Macleod, Fiona Subject(s): Laughter; Nemi (lake), Italy; Rome, Italy; Swimming & Swimmers | ||||||||
White through the azure, The purple blueness, Of Nemi's waters The swimmer goeth. Ivory-white, or wan white as roses Yellowed and tanned by the suns of the Orient, His strong limbs sever the violet hollows; A shimmer of white fantastic motions Wavering deep through the lake as he swimmeth. Like gorse in the sunlight the gold of his yellow hair, Yellow with sunshine and bright as with dew-drops, Spray of the waters flung back as he tosseth His head i' the sunlight in the midst of his laughter: Red o'er his body, blossom-white 'mid the blueness, And trailing behind him in glory of scarlet, A branch of the red-berried ash of the mountains. White as a moonbeam Drifting athwart The purple twilight, The swimmer goeth -- Joyously laughing, With o'er his shoulders, Agleam in the sunshine The trailing branch With the scarlet berries. Green are the leaves, and scarlet the berries, White are the limbs of the swimmer beyond them, Blue the deep heart of the still, brooding lakelet, Pale-blue the hills in the haze of September, The high Alban hills in their silence and beauty, Purple the depths of the windless heaven Curv'd like a flower o'er the waters of Nemi. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...NOW THE CHILDREN ARE OLD ENOUGH by ANDREW MOTION STARING AT THE PACIFIC, AND SWIMMING IN IT by ALICIA SUSKIN OSTRIKER THE SWIMMER by JOHN CROWE RANSOM |
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