Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, PURIFICATION, by RACHEL ANNAND TAYLOR


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

PURIFICATION, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I would go down to meet the infinite sea
Last Line: O god, o god, shall I be purified?
Subject(s): Shame; Sin


I WOULD go down to meet the infinite sea,
And give my body to the sharp salt wave,
That it might seize, and sting, and harry me,
And dash me lifeless in a lifeless cave,
And there for ever dream against my side,—
O God, O God, so I were purified!

Would I might marry me to subtle flame
Till eyes and lips were merely ashes white,
Till with the human passed the human shame
Of sordid pain and undivine delight,—
Would all strange tortures had my soul for bride,
O God, O God, so I were purified!

When I draw round my flesh the veils of death,
Soaked with the mist of twilight thro' and thro',
When to the burning blood there entereth
The solace of imperishable dew;
When I go out into Thy dusk to hide,
O God, O God, shall I be purified?





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