Page:Oxford Book of English Verse 1250-1918.djvu/1014

 ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE 814 Ave atque Vale

(iN MEMORY OF CHARLES BAUDELAIRE)

^HALL I strew on thee rose or rue or laurel, Brother, on this that was the veil of thee? Or quiet sea-flower moulded by the sea,

Or simplest growth of meadow-sweet or sorrel, Such as the summer-sleepy Dryads weave, Waked up by snow-soft sudden rains at eve^

Or wilt thou rather, as on earth before,

Half-faded fiery blossoms, pale with heat And full of bitter summer, but more bweet

To thee than gleanings of a northern shore Trod by no tropic feet?

For always thee the fervid languid glories

Allured of heavier suns in mightier skies, Thine cars knew all the wandering watery sighs

Where the sea sobs round Lesbian promontories, The barren kiss of piteous wave to wave That knows not where is that Leucadian grave

Which hides too deep the supreme head of song. Ah, salt and sterile as her kisses were, The wild sea winds her and the green gulfs bear

Hither and thither, and vex and work her wrong, Blind gods that cannot spare.

Thou sawest, in thine old singing season, brother, Secrets and sorrows unbeheld of us: Fierce loves, and lovely leaf-buds poisonous,

Bare to thy subtler eye, but for none other

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