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Delmore Schwartz - To Helen
Work rating: Low

(After Valery)


O Sea!… `Tis I, risen from death once more
To hear the waves` harmonious roar
And see the galleys, sharp, in dawn`s great awe
Raised from the dark by the rising and gold oar.

My fickle hands sufficed to summon kings
Their salt beards amused my fingers, deft and pure.
I wept. They sang of triumphs now obscure:
And the first abyss flooded the hull as if with falling wings.

I hear the profound horns and trumpets of war
Matching the rhythm, swinging of the flying oars:
The galleys` chant enchains the foam of sound;
And the gods, exalted at the heroic prow,
E`en though the spit of spray insults each smiling brow,
Beckon to me, with arms indulgent, frozen, sculptured,
              and dead long long ago.
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