History & Politics

I saw the double-featured statue stand

by Algernon Charles Swinburne 1837–1909

From Songs of Two Nations

History & Politics

I saw the double-featured statue stand
Of Memnon or of Janus, half with night
Veiled, and fast bound with iron; half with light
Crowned, holding all men’s future in his hand.

And all the old westward face of time grown grey
Was writ with cursing and inscribed for death;
But on the face that met the morning’s breath
Fear died of hope as darkness dies of day.

MLA

Swinburne, Algernon Charles. “I saw the double-featured statue stand.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/swinburne/716/.

Chicago

Swinburne, Algernon Charles. “I saw the double-featured statue stand.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/swinburne/716/.

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