Arts & Sciences
In the Galleries: III. Antinous Crowned as Bacchus
From Poems (1914)
Who crowned thy forehead with the ivy wreath
And clustered berries burdening the hair?
Who gave thee godhood, and dim rites? Beware
O beautiful, who breathest mortal breath,
Thou delicate flame great gloom environeth!
The gods are free, and drink a stainless air,
And lightly on calm shoulders they upbear
A weight of joy eternal, nor can Death
Cast o’er their sleep the shadow of her shrine.
O thou confessed too mortal by the o’er-fraught
Crowned forehead, must thy drooped eyes ever see
The glut of pleasure, those pale lips of thine
Still suck a bitter-sweet satiety,
Thy soul descend through cloudy realms of thought?
Codex Note
Dated Feb. 1873. In the British Museum.
Cite this poem
MLA
Dowden, Edward. “In the Galleries: III. Antinous Crowned as Bacchus.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/dowden/5/.
Chicago
Dowden, Edward. “In the Galleries: III. Antinous Crowned as Bacchus.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/dowden/5/.
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