Sonnet XV
Alan Seeger 1888 (New York City) – 1916
Above the ruin of God's holy place,
Where man-forsaken lay the bleeding rood,
Whose hands, when men had craved substantial food,
Gave not, nor folded when they cried, Embrace,
I saw exalted in the latter days
Her whom west winds with natal foam bedewed,
Wafted toward Cyprus, lily-breasted, nude,
Standing with arms out-stretched and flower-like face.
And, sick with all those centuries of tears
Shed in the penance for factitious woe,
Once more I saw the nations at her feet,
For Love shone in their eyes, and in their ears
Come unto me, Love beckoned them, for lo!
The breast your lips abjured is still as sweet.
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 33 sec read
- 79 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | ABBACBBADEFGEF |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 622 |
Words | 109 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 14 |
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"Sonnet XV" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 25 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/339/sonnet-xv>.
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