Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

WATER by KATHLEEN JESSIE RAINE

Poet Analysis

First Line: THE WATER-VENUS IN DISSOLVING BEAUTY
Last Line: FROM LIVING WATERS INTO BIRTH.
Subject(s): BEAUTY; MYTHOLOGY - CLASSICAL; SEA; VENUS (GODDESS); OCEAN;
The water-Venus in dissolving beauty
Pours into our night-cities her seas' multitude,
Steeps with her dew the gardens of the earth,
And in our veins, still tidal to her moon
The life-blood surges out to her in waves
That break in tears or fleeting vain delight.

But in mid-ocean of desire
The King of Fishes stands
Upon the teeming seas, and to him rise
Like salmon to the poacher's light
Miraculous drafts of Venus' spawn
As from her element we are drawn,
From living waters into birth.



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