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AN ITALIAN SONNET-SEQUENCE: 5 by PERCY STICKNEY GRANT

First Line: DEEP INUNDATION FLOODS MY PLEASANT PLAIN
Last Line: AND STAY THIS SWIFT ENCROACHMENT OF THE SEA.
Subject(s): LOVE;

Deep inundation floods my pleasant plain,
Blotting the ordered fields from hill to hill;
The green heights lie like emeralds fall'n at will,
The gold links broken that once bound the chain.
Now foul, black clouds my sunny heaven stain,
With here and there a rift the blue depths fill.
What areas of darkness, cold and still,
Lie, trackless, 'twixt the bright stars of the Wain!
A barren desolation drowns my days:
Mere scattered peaks of time I now behold
Which mischief Love has named -- Rare sights of thee.
Since, then, my life so little land displays,
Appear, I pray, as Thetis might of old,
And stay this swift encroachment of the sea.



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