At Sea

Aleister Crowley 1875 (Leamington Spa) – 1947 (Hastings)



As night hath stars, more rare than ships
In ocean, faint from pole to pole,
So all the wonder of her lips
Hints her innavigable soul.

Such lights she gives as guide my bark;
But I am swallowed in the swell
Of her heart's ocean, sagely dark,
That holds my heaven and holds my hell.

In her I live, a mote minute
Dancing a moment in the sun:
In her I die, a sterile shoot
Of nightshade in oblivion.

In her my elf dissolves, a grain
Of salt cast careless in the sea;
My passion purifies my pain
To peace past personality.

Love of my life, God grant the years
Confirm the chrism - rose to rood!
Anointing loves, asperging tears
In sanctifying solitude!

Man is so infinitely small
In all these stars, determinate.
Maker and moulder of them all,
Man is so infinitely great!

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 26, 2023

44 sec read
145

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABAB CDCD XEXE FGFG XHXH IJIJ
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 753
Words 147
Stanzas 6
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4

Aleister Crowley

Aleister Crowley, born Edward Alexander Crowley, was an English occultist, ceremonial magician, poet, and mountaineer. more…

All Aleister Crowley poems | Aleister Crowley Books

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