Ibant Obscuræ



To-night I saw three maidens on the beach,
        Dark-robed descending to the sea,
    So slow, so silent of all speech,
        And visible to me
    Only by that strange drift-light, dim, forlorn,
    Of the sun's wreck and clashing surges born.

      Each after other went,
        And they were gathered to his breast--
    It seemed to me a sacrament
       Of some stern creed unblest:
   As when to rocks, that cheerless girt the bay,
   They bound thy holy limbs, Andromeda.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

23 sec read
73

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABABCC DXXDXX
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 481
Words 78
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 6, 6

Thomas Edward Brown

Thomas Edward Brown Manx poet scholar and theologian was born at Douglas Isle of Man and educated at King Williams College more…

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