Sword Blades and Poppy Seed/Storm-Racked

1904063Sword Blades and Poppy Seed — Storm-RackedAmy Lowell

How should I sing when buffeting salt waves
 And stung with bitter surges, in whose might
 I toss, a cockleshell? The dreadful night
Marshals its undefeated dark and raves
In brutal madness, reeling over graves
 Of vanquished men, long-sunken out of sight,
 Sent wailing down to glut the ghoulish sprite
Who haunts foul seaweed forests and their caves.
 No parting cloud reveals a watery star,
My cries are washed away upon the wind,
 My cramped and blistering hands can find no spar,
My eyes with hope o'erstrained, are growing blind.
 But painted on the sky great visions burn,
 My voice, oblation from a shattered urn!

This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1929.


The longest-living author of this work died in 1925, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 98 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.

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