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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


SOROR DOLOROSA by CATULLE MENDES

First Line: STAY. LIGHT NOT THE LAMP. BUT LET US SLAKE
Last Line: THRO' THESE CLOSE-WOVEN LOCKS OF SOMBRE BROWN.
Subject(s): LOVE - COMPLAINTS;

STAY. Light not the lamp. But let us slake
Our eyes in shadow, and do thou unbind
Thy brown hair's glossy torrent for a blind
About the silent kisses that we take.

We are both outwearied with the old heartache.
The sun-encumbered sky hath been unkind.
Now let us sway in the voluptuous wind
That on night's melancholy sea doth wake.

Slow sweetness, surging slumber without dream,
Funereal ebb and flow in endless stream,
Thy hair wherein my drenchéd brow doth drown ...
Calm eve that hateth life and fain would pause,
How slow the tide of dumb oblivion draws
Thro' these close-woven locks of sombre brown.



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