Algernon Swinburne
Algernon Swinburne
Algernon Charles Swinburnewas an English poet, playwright, novelist, and critic. He wrote several novels and collections of poetry such as Poems and Ballads, and contributed to the famous Eleventh Edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica. A controversial figure at the time, Swinburne was a sado-masochist and alcoholic and was obsessed with the Middle Ages and lesbianism...
god house learn might save strong weakness
Where might is, the right is:/ Long purses make strong swords./ Let weakness learn meekness:/ God save the House of Lords!
fields heaven mistress months
Maiden, and mistress of the months and stars/ Now folded in the flowerless fields of heaven.
left rocks rose spares thorns weeds wind
The thorns he spares when the rose is taken;/ The rocks are left when he wastes the plain./ The wind that wanders, the weeds wind-shaken,/ These remain.
clothed life shall sleep watch
He weaves, and is clothed with derision;/ Sows, and he shall not reap;/ His life is a watch or a vision/ Between a sleep and a sleep.
goddess hath lived love maiden near seen
I have lived long enough, having seen one thing, that love hath an end;/ Goddess and maiden and queen, be near me now and befriend.
lady pain redeem
Come down and redeem us from virtue,/ Our Lady of Pain.
barren corpses days death division lives loves marriage time turns
Time turns the old days to derision, Our loves into corpses or wives; And marriage and death and division Make barren our lives