Religion
XV
From Poems & Ballads (Second Series)
And one weeps with him in the ways Lethean,
And stains with tears her changing bosom chill:
That obscure Venus of the hollow hill,
That thing transformed which was the Cytherean,
With lips that lost their Grecian laugh divine
Long since, and face no more called Erycine;
A ghost, a bitter and luxurious god.
Thee also with fair flesh and singing spell
Did she, a sad and second prey, compel
Into the footless places once more trod,
And shadows hot from hell.
Cite this poem
MLA
Swinburne, Algernon Charles. “XV.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/swinburne/431/.
Chicago
Swinburne, Algernon Charles. “XV.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/swinburne/431/.
Read this poem with the Codex →