The Goddess in the Wood
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n a flowered dell the Lady Venus stood,Amazed with sorrow. Down the morning oneFar golden horn in the gold of trees and sunRang out; and held; and died. . . . She thought the woodGrew quieter. Wing, and leaf, and pool of lightForgot to dance. Dumb lay the unfalling stream;Life one eternal instant rose in dreamClear out of time, poised on a golden height. . . . Till a swift terror broke the abrupt hour.The gold waves purled amidst the green above her;And a bird sang. With one sharp-taken breath,By sunlit branches and unshaken flower,The immortal limbs flashed to the human lover,And the immortal eyes to look on death. A Channel Passage The damned ship lurched and slithered. Quiet and quickMy cold gorge rose; the long sea rolled; I knewI must think hard of something, or be sick;And could think hard of only one thing -- YOU!You, you alone could hold my fancy ever!And with you memories come, sharp pain, and dole.Now there's a choice -- heartache or tortured liver!A sea-sick body, or a you-sick soul! Do I forget you? Retchings twist and tie me,Old meat, good meals, brown gobbets, up I throw.Do I remember? Acrid return and slimy,The sobs and slobber of a last years woe.And still the sick ship rolls. 'Tis hard, I tell ye,To choose 'twixt love and nausea, heart and belly.
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