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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
HERO AND LEANDER: LEANDER'S DEATH, by GRAMMATICUS MUSAEUS Poet's Biography First Line: The time was night, when most the violent breathing winds Last Line: And the joy of love together in life's last separation. Subject(s): Death; Hero And Leander; Dead, The | |||
THE time was night, when most the violent breathing winds Hurl forth their cries in stormy blasts, while with one strength They fall in headlong force upon the shores of the sea. On such a night Leander, moved by his heart's desire For the maid he knew in love, was borne on the shrieking waste, On the mighty back of the sea while wave was rolled on wave, While the waters in tumult gathered and sky was merged with sea, While on all sides the rising whine of striving winds As East with West contended, as South to North proclaimed Its mighty menace, was heard with the sea's unending thunder. Leander sore distressed amid the eddying waters Found them inexorable, though many a time he prayed To Aphrodite the ocean goddess, and many a time To lord Poseidon himself, the ruler of the sea; Yet no help came, nor even Love could stay Fate's hand. But dragged and buffeted by the deadly swirling waves He was carried hither and thither until his thrusting limbs Faltered and failed, and the restless strokes of his hands Availed him nothing. Then by its own huge strength the sea Poured down his throat; and of the constraining surge he drank, Quenching no thirst -- but life; and as the cruel wind Stole from the unsteadfast lamp its light, so from Leander In this distress it took the warmth of life and love. . . . Hero with fierce reproach upbraided the heartless winds As now in vision she saw Leander tarrying still In the long delay of death; and yet with unwavering watch She kept in storm of sorrow her troubled vigil, And saw the morning break -- and still saw not her lover. Everywhere over the sea's wide plains with straining eyes She searched for sight of him, lest perchance his way was lost When the light of her lamp was gone. And when she saw him dead, Torn by the rocks and lying at her tower's foundation, About her breast she tore the wondrous woven mantle And from the sheer crag plunged in hurtling headlong fall To find with her dead love a death among the waves, And the joy of love together in life's last separation. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A FRIEND KILLED IN THE WAR by ANTHONY HECHT FOR JAMES MERRILL: AN ADIEU by ANTHONY HECHT TARANTULA: OR THE DANCE OF DEATH by ANTHONY HECHT CHAMPS D?ÇÖHONNEUR by ERNEST HEMINGWAY NOTE TO REALITY by TONY HOAGLAND HERO AND LEANDER: THE LOVES OF HERO AND LEANDER by GRAMMATICUS MUSAEUS |
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