The Prophetic Bard's Oration: From A Faun's Holiday
'Be warned! I feel the world grow old,
And off Olympus fades the gold
Of the simple passionate sun;
And the Gods wither one by one;
Proud-eyed Apollo's bow is broken,
And throned Zeus nods nor may be woken
But by the song of spirits seven
Quiring in the midnight heaven
Of a new world no more forlorn,
Sith unto it a Babe is born,
That in a propped, thatched stable lies,
While with darkling, reverent eyes
Dusky Emperors, coifed in gold,
Kneel mid the rushy mire, and hold
Caskets of rubies, urns of myrrh,
Whose fumes enwrap the thurifer
And coil toward the high dim rafters
Where, with lutes and warbling laughters,
Clustered cherubs of rainbow feather,
Fanning the fragrant air together,
Flit in jubilant holy glee,
And make heavenly minstrelsy
To the Child their Sun, whose flow
Bathes them His cloudlets from below . . . .
Long shall this chimed accord be heard,
Yet all earth hushed to His first word:
Then shall be seen Apollo's car
Blaze headlong like a banished star;
And the Queen of heavenly Loves
Dragged downward by her dying doves;
Vulcan, spun on a wheel, shall track
The circle of the zodiac;
Silver Artemis be lost,
To the polar blizzards tossed;
Heaven shall curdle as with blood;
The sun be swallowed in the flood;
The universe be silent save
For the low drone of winds that lave
The shadowed great world's ashen sides
As through the rustling void she glides.
Then shall there be a whisper heard
Of the Grave's Secret and its Word,
Where in black silence none shall cry
Save those who, dead-affrighted, spy
How from the murmurous graveyeards creep
The figures of eternal sleep.
Last: when 'tis light men shall behold,
Beyond the crags, a flower of gold
Blossoming in a golden haze,
And, while they guess Zeus' halls now blaze,
Shall in the blossom's heart descry
The saints of a new hierarchy! '
He ceased . . . and in the morning sky
Zeus' anger threatened murmurously.
I sped away. The lightning's sword
Stabbed on the forest. But the word
Abides with me. I feel its power
Most darkly in the twilit hour,
When Night's eternal shadow, cast
Over earth hushed and pale and vast,
Darkly foretells the soundless Night
In which this orb, so green, so bright,
Now spins, and which shall compass her
When on her rondure nought shall stir
But snow-whorls which the wind shall roll
From the Equator to the Pole . . . .
For everlastingly there is
Something Beyond, Behind: I wis
All Gods are haunted, and there clings,
As hounds behind fled sheep, the things
Beyond the Universe's ken:
Gods haunt the Half-Gods, Half-Gods men,
And Man the brute. Gods, born of Night
Feel a blacker appetite
Gape to devour them; Half-Gods dread
But jealous Gods; and mere men tread
Warily lest a Half-God rise
And loose on them from empty skies
Amazement, thunder, stark affright,
Famine and sudden War's thick night,
In which loud Furies hunt the Pities
Through smoke above wrecked, flaming cities.
For Pan, the Unknown God, rules all.
He shall outlive the funeral,
Change, and decay, of many Gods,
Until he, too, lets fall his rods
Of viewless power upon that minute
When Universe cowers at Infinite!
poem by Robert Nichols
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Related quotes
Gods
Gods of the white man,
Gods of the black man,
Gods of the almond shade
all of these Gods
have done one thing,
made the people afraid.
Gods of the red man,
Gods of the brown man
Gods of the yellow hue,
all of these Gods
have done the same
divided them into
Separate people
who've been led to believe
their God is the holy one
to save their souls
and pardon them
and deliver them
from earthly sin.
How can there be
so many Gods?
Isn't there only one?
One for every single soul
born unto this earth.
He's every color that there is
since the world's begun.
poem by Edwina Reizer
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The Jealous Gods
Oh life is wonderful,' she said,
'And all my world is bright;
Can Paradise show fairer skies,
Or more effulgent light?'
(Speak lower, lower, mortal heart,
The jealous gods may hear.)
She turned for answer; but his gaze
Cut past her like a lance,
And shone like flame on one who came
With radiant glance for glance.
(You spoke too loud, O mortal heart,
The jealous gods were near.)
They walked through green and sunlit ways;
And yet the earth seemed black,
For there were three, where two should be;
So runs the world, alack.
(The listening gods, the jealous gods,
They want no Edens here.)
poem by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
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A Child of the Snows
There is heard a hymn when the panes are dim,
And never before or again,
When the nights are strong with a darkness long,
And the dark is alive with rain.
Never we know but in sleet and in snow,
The place where the great fires are,
That the midst of the earth is a raging mirth
And the heart of the earth a star.
And at night we win to the ancient inn
Where the child in the frost is furled,
We follow the feet where all souls meet
At the inn at the end of the world.
The gods lie dead where the leaves lie red,
For the flame of the sun is flown,
The gods lie cold where the leaves lie gold,
And a Child comes forth alone.
poem by G.K. Chesterton
Submitted by Veronica Serbanoiu
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Twilight Of The Gods
Insania 20 14
Weve thrown away our former gods
Controlling our day
We have created better ones
So we control the way
We are the ones with the power
To hold down the enemy
Our gods are perfection
And they are protecting our lives
We still need some more of them
To be safe from the other side
As long as were stronger
Nothing will happen to us
Fireflash in the night
Just an evil dream
Holy war in the sky. . . .never
Insania 20 16
Error in store 103
We watch the sun at night
The pretty gods weve built ourselves
Now terminate our lives
Silicon brain powered voices
Are crying attack tonight
In anger, burning our world
Doomsday has come
And there is no place to hide away
The future is over
And there is no turning back
Fireflash in the night
Now reality
Holy war in the sky. . . .
Chorus
Twilight of the gods
Insanias dead and gone
Another world was born
But the twilight soon will come
Fireflash in the night
Now reality
Holy war in the sky
Chorus
song performed by by Helloween
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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A Child of the Snows
There is heard a hymn when the panes are dim,
And never before or again,
When the nights are strong with a darkness long,
And the dark is alive with rain.
Never we know but in sleet and in snow,
The place where the great fires are,
That the midst of the earth is a raging mirth
And the heart of the earth a star.
And at night we win to the ancient inn
Where the child in the frost is furled,
We follow the feet where all souls meet
At the inn at the end of the world.
The gods lie dead where the leaves lie red,
For the flame of the sun is flown,
The gods lie cold where the leaves lie gold,
And a Child comes forth alone.
poem by Gilbert Keith Chesterton
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We All Are Gods.
You my Venus.
Me your Zeus.
Both rescued
From a swinging noose.
Our passions
Set loose
By stars above.
We all are Gods
When we play at love.
That panorama
Of a drama
Until the end of time.
Souls touch.
And hearts blaze
Yet burn
That whispered rhyme
Of earlier days.
We all are Gods
Flying down the freeways
Of unbridled youth.
Now at odds
With those new mornings
Where dawns
The truth.
And so
Embrace
The candlelight.
The hand you hold
And Grip so tight.
Alas -
Love is just a bird in flight.
That gently fades
With bluest
Heart rending tune.
I wonder,
Detectives of the night.
Can you
Catch me a magic moon.
So tragic
Just to even try.
As we all are Gods
You see,
Now devoid
Of battlecry.
poem by Kevin East
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In The Lap Of The Gods
Ah ah ah ah ah
Leave it in the lap of the gods
Ah ah ah
I live my life for you
Think all my thoughts with you and only you
Anything you ask I do for you
I touch your lips with mine
But in the end I leave it to the lords
Leave it in the lap of the gods
What more can I do?
Leave it in the lap of the gods
I leave it to you
Leave it in the lap of the gods
Leave it in the lap of the gods
I want you to
Leave it in the lap of the gods
Leave it in the lap of the gods
Leave it in the lap of the gods
Lap of the gods
song performed by by Queen from Sheer Heart Attack
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Tears In God's Eyes
One man cant sleep in his penthouse bed,
Wall Street worries fill his head,
While another man dreams,
In his cardboard shed on Broadway.
Early morning traffic jam,
Wake up call for both of them,
Will work to eat
Asks easy street for small change.
And which one needs it more,
The rich man or the poor,
A change of heart and attitude,
Unselfishness meets gratitude.
Its enough to put tears in Gods eyes,
Enough to make the angels cry,
When the power of love lifts someone above,
The emptiness of their unbearable life,
Its enough to put tears in Gods eyes.
Late at night a baby cries,
His mother gives him life then dies,
But no one even by them to be sad.
And another woman fills the need,
Its her heart and his mouth shell feed,
When she gives her love to the child she never had.
Oh, and which one needs it more,
Its hard to say for sure,
When something grows, when nothing was
As strong as any bond of blood.
Its enough to put tears in Gods eyes,
Enough to make the angels cry,
When the power of love lifts someone above,
The emptiness of their unbearable life,
Its enough to put tears in Gods eyes.
Every minute, every day
A little miracles done,
Someone opens up their heart
And lets it shine like the sun,
Just the light of that one.
Its enough to put tears in Gods eyes,
Enough to make the angels cry,
When the power of love lifts someone above,
The emptiness of their unbearable life,
Its enough to put tears in Gods eyes...
song performed by by Kenny Rogers
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Cyber Gods
In the dead of the night
After minimal thought
Your wheel chair rolling
To the very same spot
Electricity power
All the fuel you need
And in front of the rays
Doing your damn solo things
Under the invisible hand
Of an artificial mom
Under the ferocious stand
Of a superficial god
And the night has come
And the cyber gods attack
And the night is lost
With the cyber gods
After serious time
Of a visional search
You detect in the flashing
The “messiah” church
She is here for your joy
And of thousands more
Gift of hyper realms
Goddess of the hardcore
Under the invisible hand
Of an artificial mom
Under the ferocious stand
Of a superficial god
And the night has come
And the cyber gods attack
And the night is lost
With the cyber gods
When the ritual is finished
And you are ready to go
With your head to the ground
As in always before
Giving thanks to an item
Giving curse to your soul
You wish you embraced
Of a truly living god
And the night has come
And the cyber gods attack
And the night is lost
With the cyber gods
poem by Chris Terzis
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The Adventurer of God
They are solid steel, the rocks are built by gods,
Mountains and volcanoes are one, by gods.
Yet we see the lava flow and the abolishment,
To address them is to arrive at and abandon, by gods.
Any geographical feature on the map carries fascination,
One is adventured, one is fine with distortion, by gods.
The map is a remedy for the plain and ill, the happier,
Yellow streams and wooden forests are a distinction, by gods.
Let us laugh and be merry on this whole globe,
Let godliness reign supreme with this incantation, by gods.
The gods are lovable towards their kingdom,
The wishes of the valley are mine in slow-motion, by the gods.
poem by Naveed Akram
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Many Gods
Gods are too many in one religion-
That is an asking of much distaste.
Gods are like religions of adjustment,
Lots of them would affect us in different ways.
Gods may produce laughter,
But Thor is no good with thunder.
Gods are not selling me objects,
Due to the weather and frame of mind.
I live with gods and goddesses
For I am a job to do with the highest ones.
poem by Naveed Akram
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Reals Unknown: Still they are known to the heart of man
This same land that knew the footsteps of Arthur and Merlin
Shall once again know an age of chivalry
When the misunderstandings of our race shall fall into the shadow
Hiding and we shall stride as one together.
Yet many ages will pass before we sit each upon the grass
Laughing at the wars of the long lost times and mourning the
Souls of our ancestors who could not understand one another,
In this far distant future age men shall walk the earth
As the ancient masters of the past, Hermes shall be reborn
Just as the Christ child may be born again in a thousand incarnations
Dionysus shall ride the forest trail and men shall once more
Know the Gods as there fathers and knows children as the seed of the gods.
Aphrodite is worshipped through the ritual of vanity,
Hermes is worshipped through the studious and those wide known travelers,
Zeus is worshipped through the power of promise
And through respect and fear of the skies.
Poseidon is worshipped by those who still consider the sea as sacred in its power
Just as Artemis and Apollo are known through the masculinity
Of our solar power to the cycles of the blood moon waning.
Still skyclad Bacchants cheer with he roar of their gods in there tones,
Still we see ecstasy fuel the excitement of youth, just as wine
And alcohol are loved by most.
This present age knows only the loss of the names of those we worship
In our ritual yet soon there shall be men who foretell the tales of old beyond
The walls of lecture halls, children shall know the joy of Homers verse above
All they know of Biblical verse, for although holy and truly deep in truth,
The tradition of religion and its institutions hath been corrupted by the vanity
And evil of man, it would be safe to say that if ever the devil walked the earth
He did so in the name of undisputable doctrine, for this evil there is no measure,
In seeking your treasure as truth shall you find all the pleasures
Of the world available to your understanding.
Take in the land and embrace the day,
Understand the words you say and so
Shall you understand the way to the love
Of your opposite just as you may understand
The love of the Gods in every form.
Still Hades is feared as lord of the unknown realm,
Still bright eyed Athena startles with her insight of the most beautiful wisdom incarnate,
Artemis lady of the wild, child of Zeus and twin of Dionysus, fires silver arrows throughout the night whilst Hephaestus, hammer of the gods is sweltering within his forge.
Ares is worshipped most of all the men of this earth,
His power is strong yet the honor of Ares is lost to the cold slaughter of many.
Hestia is still worshiped by guarded fires and virgin purity,
Still married woman may be adorned with courage by Hera
To strive against there husbands tyranny. Pan may be found
In the countryside’s of Europe far from his native land, his beloved Arcady,
Dancing in circles with nymphs, chasing them and constantly rejected,
Yet never neglecting the love he has for all the creatures wild.
Still they are worshipped and still they are strong
Awaiting you to call upon them in all honour.
Deny not the feminine influence running within
The blood of sympathetic wisdom untold.
poem by David Lacey
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The Power Of Thy Sword
Lord of battle I pray on bended knee conquest by the rising sun
I'll wait for thy command with flame and blood at hand
glory and a broken sword.
I'm the master of the world I have no fear of man or beast
Born inside the soul of the world
Riding hard breaking bone with steel and stone
Eternal might I was born to wield.
Let us drink to the battles we've lived and we've fought
Celebrate the pain and havoc we have wrought
Great heroes charge into the fight
From the north to the south in the black of night
The clash of honor calls to stand when others fall
Gods of war feel the power of my sword
Drink to the battles we've lived and we've fought
Celebrate the pain and havoc we have wrought
Great heroes charge into the fight
From the north to the south in the black of night
Fierce is my blade fierce is my hate born to die in battle
I laugh at my fate
Now pay in blood when your blood has been spilled
You're never forgiven death is fulfilled !
The clash of honor calls to stand when others fall
Gods of war feel the power of my sword
The clash of honor calls
I will stand when others fall
Open magic doors
The will know the power of my sword
There is blood in my hands there is blood in my eyes
With blood in my voice I scream as you die
Thirsting for vengeance and mounds of the slain
Shaking the forest onto the plain
Fierce is my blade fierce is my hate born to die in battle
I laugh at my fate
Now pay in blood when your blood has been spilled
You're never forgiven death is fulfilled !
The clash of honor calls to stand when others fall
Gods of war feel the power of my sword
Know the power of my sword
Know the power of my sword
Know the power of my sword
Know the power of my sword
They will know the power of my sword
song performed by by Manowar from The Triumph Of Steel
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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If There's A True God
If there's a true God that true God must be kinder
Than the Gods the billions kneel to for to pray
The selfish Gods that men do go to war for
And invade Countries from their own Homeshores far away.
If there's a God that God does not live out there
Your true God is your God who lives within
And if your God within is not philanthropic
Then you are one who is vulnerable to sin.
If there's a true God that God is not divisive
With the followers of other Gods he would not want us to fight
Your true God would not want you to others to feel superior
Or you to be looked on as a lesser light.
If there's a true God that God does have compassion
And that God believes in human equality
But sad to say the Gods many do worship
Are Gods who do seem to crave an enemy.
poem by Francis Duggan
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The Rainbow
Watch the white dawn gleam,
To the thunder of hidden guns.
I hear the hot shells scream
Through skies as sweet as a dream
Where the silver dawn-break runs.
And stabbing of light
Scorches the virginal white.
But I feel in my being the old, high, sanctified thrill,
And I thank the gods that the dawn is beautiful still.
From death that hurtles by
I crouch in the trench day-long,
But up to a cloudless sky
From the ground where our dead men lie
A brown lark soars in song.
Through the tortured air,
Rent by the shrapnel's flare,
Over the troubleless dead he carols his fill,
And I thank the gods that the birds are beautiful still.
Where the parapet is low
And level with the eye
Poppies and cornflowers glow
And the corn sways to and fro
In a pattern against the sky.
The gold stalks hide
Bodies of men who died
Charging at dawn through the dew to be killed or to kill.
I thank the gods that the flowers are beautiful still.
When night falls dark we creep
In silence to our dead.
We dig a few feet deep
And leave them there to sleep -
But blood at night is red,
Yea, even at night,
And a dead man's face is white.
And I dry my hands, that are also trained to kill,
And I look at the stars - for the stars are beautiful still.
poem by Leslie Coulson
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The Gods
Last night, as one who hears a tragic jest,
I woke from dreams, half-laughing, half in tears;
Methought that I had journeyed in the spheres
And stood upon the Planet of the Blest
And found thereon a folk who prayed with zest
Exceeding, and through all their painful years
Like strong souls struggled on 'mid hopes and fears;
"Where dwell the gods," they said, "we shall find rest."
The gods? What gods, I thought, are those who so
Inspire their worshippers with faith that flowers
Immortal? and who make them keep aglow
The flames forever on their altar-towers?
"Where dwell these gods of yours?" I asked--and lo!
They pointed upwards to this earth of ours!
poem by Victor James Daley
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The Gods Made Heavy Metal
In the beginning there was silence and darkness
All across the earth
Then came the wind and a hole in the sky
Thunder and lightning came crashing down
Hit the earth and split the ground
Fire burned high in the sky
From down below fire melted the stone
The ground shook and started to pound
The gods made heavy metal and they saw that is was good
They said to play it louder than Hell
We promised that we would
When losers say it's over with you know that it's a lie
The gods made heavy metal and it's never gonna die
We are the true believers
It's our turn to show the world
In the fire of heavy metal we were burned
It's more than our religion it's the only way to live
But the enemies of metal we can't forgive
Cause we believe in the power and the might
And the gods who made metal are with us tonight
The gods made heavy metal and they saw that is was good
They said to play it louder than Hell
We promised that we would
When losers say it's over with you know that it's a lie
The gods made heavy metal and it's never gonna die
We believe in the power and the might
And the gods who made metal are with us tonight
We're here tonight for heavy metal are you ready in the hall
They have chosen us and we have heard the call
Gonna tear the roof off with our sound
Crack the walls and shake the ground
Fight tonight for metal one and all
Cause we believe in the power and the might
And the gods who made metal are with us tonight
The gods made heavy metal and they saw that is was good
They said to play it louder than Hell
We promised that we would
When losers say it's over with you know that it's a lie
The gods made heavy metal and it's never gonna die
song performed by by Manowar from Louder Than Hell
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The Old Gods.
O ye gods, if you could tell us
What ye are — if banned or blest —
Ye that reigned of old in Hellas!
Ye that ruled the radiant West!
Old-born gods! The Past still flashes
In the eyes of Greece and Rome;
Ye are not mere dust and ashes
Urned for all the years to come.
Ye that ruled in heavenly places,
And the faith of mortals won!
Gods created by old races
Perished from beneath the sun;
Born of faith, and with it blended,
Ye shall yet the world inspire
Till the last breath has ascended
From the latest altar fire.
All the hopes and invocations
Breathed by lips of heroes dead,
All the genius of the nations
Who the march of Freedom led —
Though your temples broke and fell as
Dusty fanes of little worth —
These will keep you, gods of Hellas!
Still alive upon the earth.
poem by Robert Crawford
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You don't even exist...
Sharpen up your blunt canines
Summon up the lost souls
Call your gods to tackle me
'cause you have no existance
Lo! under the veil of lion-skin
there stands some beast
some beast of burden...
Serve your gods to tackle me
'cause you have no existance
Silence is the best answer
And you had some questions
You answered them quite well
Backstabbing is not the silence
Find your gods to tackle me
'cause you have no existance
You fear the wind; i'm the wind
You breathe in me, spit on me
But you couldn't catch me
And i've caught you red-handed
Kneel to your gods to tackle me
'cause you have no existance
My pride's my life, you attack it
You aint've pride, you're proud
Torment your gods to tackle me
'cause you have no existance
To me, you're zero existance
nor your gods bother me
You know the pain, you know it
To inflict pain, you need rebirth
Sing your elegy, write your wish
resurrect your dead soul
Resurrect your gods to tackle me
'cause you have no existance...
26-03-2006
poem by Usman Hanif
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A Lamentation
I.
WHO hath known the ways of time
Or trodden behind his feet?
There is no such man among men.
For chance overcomes him, or crime
Changes; for all things sweet
In time wax bitter again.
Who shall give sorrow enough,
Or who the abundance of tears?
Mine eyes are heavy with love
And a sword gone thorough mine ears,
A sound like a sword and fire,
For pity, for great desire;
Who shall ensure me thereof,
Lest I die, being full of my fears?
Who hath known the ways and the wrath,
The sleepless spirit, the root
And blossom of evil will,
The divine device of a god?
Who shall behold it or hath?
The twice-tongued prophets are mute,
The many speakers are still;
No foot has travelled or trod,
No hand has meted, his path.
Man’s fate is a blood-red fruit,
And the mighty gods have their fill
And relax not the rein, or the rod.
Ye were mighty in heart from of old,
Ye slew with the spear, and are slain.
Keen after heat is the cold,
Sore after summer is rain,
And melteth man to the bone.
As water he weareth away,
As a flower, as an hour in a day,
Fallen from laughter to moan.
But my spirit is shaken with fear
Lest an evil thing begin,
New-born, a spear for a spear,
And one for another sin.
Or ever our tears began,
It was known from of old and said;
One law for a living man,
And another law for the dead.
For these are fearful and sad,
Vain, and things without breath;
While he lives let a man be glad,
For none hath joy of his death.
II.
Who hath known the pain, the old pain of earth,
Or all the travail of the sea,
The many ways and waves, the birth
Fruitless, the labour nothing worth?
Who hath known, who knoweth, O gods? not we.
There is none shall say he hath seen,
There is none he hath known.
Though he saith, Lo, a lord have I been,
I have reaped and sown;
I have seen the desire of mine eyes,
The beginning of love,
The season of kisses and sighs
And the end thereof.
I have known the ways of the sea,
All the perilous ways,
Strange winds have spoken with me,
And the tongues of strange days.
I have hewn the pine for ships;
Where steeds run arow,
I have seen from their bridled lips
Foam blown as the snow.
With snapping of chariot-poles
And with straining of oars
I have grazed in the race the goals,
In the storm the shores;
As a greave is cleft with an arrow
At the joint of the knee,
I have cleft through the sea-straits narrow
To the heart of the sea.
When air was smitten in sunder
I have watched on high
The ways of the stars and the thunder
In the night of the sky;
Where the dark brings forth light as a flower,
As from lips that dissever;
One abideth the space of an hour,
One endureth for ever.
Lo, what hath he seen or known,
Of the way and the wave
Unbeholden, unsailed-on, unsown,
From the breast to the grave?
Or ever the stars were made, or skies,
Grief was born, and the kinless night,
Mother of gods without form or name.
And light is born out of heaven and dies,
And one day knows not another’s light,
But night is one, and her shape the same.
But dumb the goddesses underground
Wait, and we hear not on earth if their feet
Rise, and the night wax loud with their wings;
Dumb, without word or shadow of sound;
And sift in scales and winnow as wheat
Men’s souls, and sorrow of manifold things.
III.
Nor less of grief than ours
The gods wrought long ago
To bruise men one by one;
But with the incessant hours
Fresh grief and greener woe
Spring, as the sudden sun
Year after year makes flowers;
And these die down and grow,
And the next year lacks none.
As these men sleep, have slept
The old heroes in time fled,
No dream-divided sleep;
And holier eyes have wept
Than ours, when on her dead
Gods have seen Thetis weep,
With heavenly hair far-swept
Back, heavenly hands outspread
Round what she could not keep,
Could not one day withhold,
One night; and like as these
White ashes of no weight,
Held not his urn the cold
Ashes of Heracles?
For all things born one gate
Opens, no gate of gold;
Opens; and no man sees
Beyond the gods and fate.
poem by Algernon Charles Swinburne
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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