Delphi Complete Poetical Works of Algernon Charles Swinburne (Illustrated) (Delphi Poets Series)

by Algernon Charles Swinburne

We keep our trust tho’ all things fail us —

  Tho’ Time nor baffled Hope avail us,

  We keep our faith — God liveth and is love.

  Not one groan rises there

  Tho’ choked in dungeon air

  But He has heard it though no thunders more —

  And though no help is here,

  No royal oath, no Austrian lie,

  But echoes in the listening sky;

  We know not, yet perchance His wide reply

  is near.

  Ah, let no sloth delay,

  No discord mar its way,

  Keep wide the entrance for that Hope divine;

  Truth never wanted swords,

  Since with his swordlike words

  Savonarola smote the Florentine.

  Even here she is not weaponless, but waits

  Silent at the palace gates,

  Her wide eyes kindling eastward to the far sun-

  shine.

  When out of Naples came a tortured voice:

  Whereat the whole earth shuddered, and

  forbade

  The murderous smile on lying lips to fade;

  The murderous heart in silence to rejoice;

  She also smiled — no royal smile — as knowing

  Some stains of sloth washed by the blood then

  flowing;

  Their lives went out in darkness — not in

  vain;

  Earth cannot hear, and sink to bloodless rest

  again.

  And if indeed her waking strength shall

  prove

  Worthy the dreams that passing lit her

  sleep,

  Who then shall lift such eyes of triumph, who

  Respond with echoes of a louder love

  Than Cromwell’s England? let fresh praise

  renew

  The wan brow’s withered laurels with its dew,

  And one triumphal peace the crownèd earth

  shall keep.

  XIV

  As one who dreaming on some cloud-white peak

  Hears the loud wind sail past him far and

  free,

  And the faint music of the misty sea,

  Listening till all his life reels blind and weak;

  So discrownèd Italy

  With the world’s hope in her hands

  Ever yearning to get free,

  Silent between the past and future stands.

  Dim grows the past, and dull,

  All that was beautiful,

  As scattered stars drawn down the moonless

  night:

  And the blind eyes of Scorn

  Are smitten by strange morn,

  And many-thronèd treason wastes before its

  might:

  And every sunless cave

  And time-forgotten grave

  Is pierced with one intolerable light

  Not one can Falsehood save

  Of all the crowns she gave,

  But the dead years renew their old delight

  The worshipped evil wanes

  Through all its godless fanes,

  And falters from its long imperial height,

  As the last altar-flame

  Dies with a glorious nation’s dying shame.

  XV

  And when that final triumph-time shall be,

  Whose memory shall be kept

  First of the souls that slept

  In death ere light was on their Italy?

  Or which of men more dear than thee

  To equal-thoughted liberty,

  Whom here on earth such reverence meets.

  Such love from Heaven’s pure children greets

  As few dare win among the free!

  Such honour ever follows thee

  In peril, banishment, and blame,

  And all the loud blind world calls shame,

  Lives, and shall live, thy glorious name,

  Tho’ death, that scorns the robèd slave,

  Embrace thee, and a chainless grave.

  While thou livest, there is one

  Free in soul beneath the Sun:

  And thine out-laboured heart shall be

  In death more honoured — not more free.

  XVI

  And men despond around thee; and thy name

  The tyrant smiles at, and his priests look

  pale;

  And weariness of empty-throated fame,

  And men who live and fear all things but shame,

  Comes on thee; and the weight of aimless

  years

  Whose light is dim with tears:

  And hope dies out like a forgotten tale.

  O brother, crownèd among men — O chief

  In glory as in grief I

  O throned by sorrow over time and fate

  And the blind strength of hatel

  From soul to answering soul

  The thunder-echoes roll,

  And truth grows out of suffering still and great

  To have done well is victory, — to be true

  Is truest guerdon, though blind hands undo

  The work begun too late.

  God gives to each man power by toil to earn

  An undishonoured grave:

  The praise that lives on every name in turn

  He leaves the laurelled slave.

  We die, but freedom dies not like the power

  That changes with the many-sided hour.

  Though trampled under the brute hoofs of

  crime,

  She sees thro’ tears and blood,

  Above the stars and in the night of time,

  The sleepless watch of God;

  Past fear and pain and errors wide and strange

  The veil’d years leading wingless-footed

  Change;

  Endure, and they shall give

  Truth and the law whereby men work and lire.

  XVII

  From Ischia to the loneliest Apennine

  Time’s awful voice is blown;

  And from her clouded throne

  Freedom looks out and knows herself divine.

  From walls that keep in shame

  Poerio’s martyr-name,

  From wild rocks foul with children’s blood, it rings;

  Their murderers gaze aghast

  Through all the hideous past,

  And fate is heavy on the souls of kings.

  No more their hateful sway

  Pollutes the equal day,

  Nor stricken truth pales under its wide wings,

  Even when the awakened people speaks in

  wrath,

  Wrong shall not answer wrong with blind

  impatience;

  The bloody slime upon that royal path

  Makes slippery standing for the feet of

  nations.

  Our freedom’s bridal robe no wrong shall stain,

  No lie shall taint her speech:

  But equal knowledge shall be born of pain,

  And wisdom shaping each.

  True leaders shall be with us, nobler laws

  Shall guide us calmly to the final Cause:

  And thou, earth’s crownless queen,

  No more shalt wail unseen,

  But front the weary ages without pain:

  Time shall bring back for thee

  The hopes that lead the free,

  And thy name fill the charmèd world again.

  The shame that stains thy brow

  Shall not for ever mark thee to fresh fears:

  For in the far light of the buried years

  Shines the undarkened future that shall be

  A dawn o’er sunless ages. Hearest thou,

  Italia? tho’ deaf sloth hath sealed thine ears,

  The world has heard thy children — and God

  hears.

  THE GHOST OF IT

  IN my poems, with ravishing rapture,

  Storm strikes me, and strokes me, and stings;

  But I’m scarcely the bird you might capture
/>   Out of doors in the thick of such things.

  I prefer to be well out of harm’s way,

  When tempest makes tremble the tree,

  And the wind with armipotent arm-sway

  Makes soap of the sea.

  Hanging hard on the rent rags of others

  Who before me did better, I try

  To believe them my sisters and brothers,

  Though I know what a low lot am I.

  Truth dawns on time’s resonant ruin

  Frank, fulminant, fragrant and free,

  And apparently this is the doing

  Of wind on the sea.

  Fame flutters in front of pretension

  Whose flag-staff is flagrantly fine,

  And it cannot be needful to mention

  That such beyond question is mine.

  It’s plain as a newspaper leader

  That a rhymester who scribbles like me

  May feel perfectly sure that his reader

  Is sick of the sea.

  I canna stand to walk, mither,

  But I’m just like to die,

  And wae be to your bonny bloodhound

  That bit me by the knee.

  The Poems

  Swinburne attended Eton College from 1849–53 and it was here that he started writing poetry.

  LIST OF POEMS IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER

  ATALANTA IN CALYDON

  A BALLAD OF LIFE

  A BALLAD OF DEATH

  LAUS VENERIS

  PHÆDRA

  THE TRIUMPH OF TIME

  LES NOYADES

  A LEAVE-TAKING

  ITYLUS

  ANACTORIA

  HYMN TO PROSERPINE

  ILICET

  HERMAPHRODITUS

  FRAGOLETTA

  RONDEL

  SATIA TE SANGUINE

  A LITANY

  A LAMENTATION

  ANIMA ANCEPS

  IN THE ORCHARD

  A MATCH

  FAUSTINE

  A CAMEO

  SONG BEFORE DEATH

  ROCOCO

  STAGE LOVE

  THE LEPER

  A BALLAD OF BURDENS

  RONDEL

  BEFORE THE MIRROR

  EROTION

  IN MEMORY OF WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR

  A SONG IN TIME OF ORDER. 1852

  A SONG IN TIME OF REVOLUTION. 1860

  TO VICTOR HUGO

  BEFORE DAWN

  DOLORES

  THE GARDEN OF PROSERPINE

  HESPERIA

  LOVE AT SEA

  APRIL

  BEFORE PARTING

  THE SUNDEW

  FÉLISE

  AN INTERLUDE

  HENDECASYLLABICS

  SAPPHICS

  AT ELEUSIS

  AUGUST

  A CHRISTMAS CAROL

  THE MASQUE OF QUEEN BERSABE

  ST. DOROTHY

  THE TWO DREAMS

  AHOLIBAH

  LOVE AND SLEEP

  MADONNA MIA

  THE KING’S DAUGHTER

  AFTER DEATH

  MAY JANET

  THE BLOODY SON

  THE SEA-SWALLOWS

  THE YEAR OF LOVE

  DEDICATION, 1865

  DIRAE I

  A SONG OF ITALY

  ODE ON THE PROCLAMATION OF THE FRENCH REPUBLIC

  DIRAE II

  DEDICATION TO JOSEPH MAZZINI

  PRELUDE

  THE EVE OF REVOLUTION

  A WATCH IN THE NIGHT

  SUPER FLUMINA BABYLONIS

  THE HALT BEFORE ROME — SEPTEMBER 1867

  MENTANA: FIRST ANNIVERSARY

  BLESSED AMONG WOMEN — TO THE SIGNORA CAIROLI

  THE LITANY OF NATIONS

  HERTHA

  BEFORE A CRUCIFIX

  TENEBRAE

  HYMN OF MAN (DURING THE SESSION IN ROME OF THE ECUMENICAL COUNCIL)

  THE PILGRIMS

  ARMAND BARBES

  QUIA MULTUM AMAVIT

  GENESIS

  TO WALT WHITMAN IN AMERICA

  CHRISTMAS ANTIPHONES

  A NEW YEAR’S MESSAGE TO JOSEPH MAZZINI

  MATER DOLOROSA

  MATER TRIUMPHALIS

  A MARCHING SONG

  SIENA

  COR CORDIUM

  IN SAN LORENZO

  TIRESIAS

  THE SONG OF THE STANDARD

  ON THE DOWNS

  MESSIDOR

  ODE ON THE INSURRECTION IN CANDIA

  NON DOLET

  EURYDICE TO VICTOR HUGO

  AN APPEAL

  PERINDE AC CADAVER

  MONOTONES

  THE OBLATION

  A YEAR’S BURDEN — 1870

  EPILOGUE

  ERECHTHEUS

  THE LAST ORACLE

  IN THE BAY

  A FORSAKEN GARDEN

  RELICS

  AT A MONTH’S END

  SESTINA

  THE YEAR OF THE ROSE

  A WASTED VIGIL

  THE COMPLAINT OF LISA

  FOR THE FEAST OF GIORDANO BRUNO, PHILOSOPHER AND MARTYR

  AVE ATQUE VALE

  MEMORIAL VERSES ON THE DEATH OF THÉOPHILE GAUTIER

  SONNET (WITH A COPY OF MADEMOISELLE DE MAUPIN)

  AGE AND SONG

  IN MEMORY OF BARRY CORNWALL

  EPICEDE

  TO VICTOR HUGO

  INFERIAE

  A BIRTHSONG

  EXVOTO

  A BALLAD OF DREAMLAND

  CYRIL TOURNEUR

  A BALLAD OF FRANÇOIS VILLON

  PASTICHE

  BEFORE SUNSET

  SONG: LOVE LAID HIS SLEEPLESS HEAD

  A VISION OF SPRING IN WINTER

  CHORIAMBICS

  AT PARTING

  A SONG IN SEASON

  TWO LEADERS

  VICTOR HUGO IN 1877

  CHILD’S SONG

  TRIADS

  FOUR SONGS OF FOUR SEASONS

  WINTER IN NORTHUMBERLAND

  SPRING IN TUSCANY

  SUMMER IN AUVERGNE

  AUTUMN IN CORNWALL

  THE WHITE CZAR

  RIZPAH

  TO LOUIS KOSSUTH

  TRANSLATIONS FROM THE FRENCH OF VILLON

  THE COMPLAINT OF THE FAIR ARMOURESS

  A DOUBLE BALLAD OF GOOD COUNSEL

  FRAGMENT ON DEATH

  BALLAD OF THE LORDS OF OLD TIME

  BALLAD OF THE WOMEN OF PARIS

  BALLAD WRITTEN FOR A BRIDEGROOM

  BALLAD AGAINST THE ENEMIES OF FRANCE

  THE DISPUTE OF THE HEART AND BODY OF FRANÇOIS VILLON

  EPISTLE IN FORM OF A BALLAD TO HIS FRIENDS

  THE EPITAPH IN FORM OF A BALLAD

  FROM VICTOR HUGO

  NOCTURNE

  THÉOPHILE GAUTIER

  ODE (LE TOMBEAU DE THÉOPHILE GAUTIER)

  IN OBITUM THEOPHILI POETÆ

  AD CATULLUM

  DEDICATION, 1878

  MARCH: AN ODE

  THE COMMONWEAL

  THE ARMADA

  TO A SEAMEW

  PAN AND THALASSIUS

  A BALLAD OF BATH

  IN A GARDEN

  A RHYME

  BABY-BIRD

  OLIVE

  A WORD WITH THE WIND

  NEAP-TIDE

  BY THE WAYSIDE

  NIGHT

  IN TIME OF MOURNING

  THE INTERPRETERS

  THE RECALL

  BY TWILIGHT

  A BABY’S EPITAPH

  ON THE DEATH OF SIR HENRY TAYLOR

  IN MEMORY OF JOHN WILLIAM INCHBOLD

  NEW YEAR’S DAY

  TO SIR RICHARD F. BURTON

  NELL GWYN

  CALIBAN ON ARIEL

  THE WEARY WEDDING

  THE WINDS

  A LYKE-WAKE SONG

  A REIVER’S NECK-VERSE

  THE WITCH-MOTHER

  THE BRIDE’S TRAGEDY

  A JACOBITE’S FAREWELL

  A JACOBITE’S EXILE

  THE TYNESIDE WIDOW

  DED
ICATION

  DEDICATION TO EDWARD JOHN TRELAWNY

  THALASSIUS

  ON THE CLIFFS

  THE GARDEN OF CYMODOCE

  BIRTHDAY ODE FOR THE ANNIVERSARY FESTIVAL OF VICTOR HUGO, FEBRUARY 26, 1880

  SONG FOR THE CENTENARY OF WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR

  DEDICATION TO MRS. LYNN LINTON.

  SONG FOR THE CENTENARY OF WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR.

  GRAND CHORUS OF BIRDS FROM ARISTOPHANES

  THE BIRDS.

  OFF SHORE.

  AFTER NINE YEARS.

  FOR A PORTRAIT OF FELICE ORSINI.

  EVENING ON THE BROADS.

  THE EMPEROR’S PROGRESS.

  THE RESURRECTION OF ALCILIA.

  THE FOURTEENTH OF JULY.

  LAUNCH OF THE LIVADIA

  THE LAUNCH OF THE LIVADIA.

  SIX YEARS OLD.

  A PARTING SONG.

  BY THE NORTH SEA

  ATHENS AN ODE

  THE STATUE OF VICTOR HUGO

  EUTHANATOS

  FIRST AND LAST

  LINES ON THE DEATH OF EDWARD JOHN TRELAWNY

  ADIEUX À MARIE STUART

  HERSE

  TWINS

  POSTSCRIPT

  THE SALT OF THE EARTH

  SEVEN YEARS OLD

  EIGHT YEARS OLD

  COMPARISONS

  WHAT IS DEATH?

  A CHILD’S PITY

  A CHILD’S LAUGHTER

  A CHILD’S THANKS

  A CHILD’S BATTLES

  A CHILD’S FUTURE

  DARK MONTH

  SUNRISE

  PRELUDE

  THE SAILING OF THE SWALLOW

  THE QUEEN’S PLEASANCE

  TRISTRAM IN BRITTANY

  THE MAIDEN MARRIAGE

  ISEULT AT TINTAGEL

  JOYOUS GARD

  THE WIFE’S VIGIL

  THE LAST PILGRIMAGE

  THE SAILING OF THE SWAN

  HOPE AND FEAR

  AFTER SUNSET

  A STUDY FROM MEMORY

  TO DR. JOHN BROWN

  TO WILLIAM BELL SCOTT

  A DEATH ON EASTER DAY

  ON THE DEATHS OF THOMAS CARLYLE AND GEORGE ELIOT

  AFTER LOOKING INTO CARLYLE’S REMINISCENCES

  A LAST LOOK

  DICKENS

  ON LAMB’S SPECIMENS OF DRAMATIC POETS

  TO JOHN NICHOL

  DYSTHANATOS

  EUONYMOS

  ON THE RUSSIAN PERSECUTION OF THE JEWS

  BISMARCK AT CANOSSA

  QUIA NOMINOR LEO

  THE CHANNEL TUNNEL

  SIR WILLIAM GOMM

  CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE

  WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

  BEN JONSON

  BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER

  PHILIP MASSINGER

  JOHN FORD

  JOHN WEBSTER

  THOMAS DECKER

  THOMAS MIDDLETON

  THOMAS HEYWOOD

  GEORGE CHAPMAN

  JOHN MARSTON

  JOHN DAY

  JAMES SHIRLEY

  THE TRIBE OF BENJAMIN

  ANONYMOUS PLAYS:”ARDEN OF FEVERSHAM”

  ANONYMOUS PLAYS

  ANONYMOUS PLAYS

  THE MANY