Page:Songs of the Springtides - Swinburne (1880).pdf/83

 Thee first, thee, mother; ere my songs had breath, That love of loves, whose bondage makes man free, Was in me strong as death. And seeing no slave may love thee, no, not one That loves not freedom more, And more for thy sake loves her, and for hers Thee; or that hates not, on whate'er thy shore Or what thy wave soever, all things done Of man beneath the sun In his despite and thine, to cross and curse Your light and song that as with lamp and verse Guide safe the strength of our sphered universe, Thy breath it was, thou knowest, and none but thine, That taught me love of one thing more divine.