Esther, A Sonnet Sequence: XVII

Wilfrid Scawen Blunt 1840 (Petworth House) – 1922 (United Kingdom)



I touched that knee. She did not show surprise,
And the earth had not opened at our feet.
She did not even laugh. Her foolish eyes
Twinkled a moment in her cheeks, then set
Like fog--bound stars for ever from my sight.
And at a signal from the little woman,
Who clung to me still, a chorus left and right
Of laughter rose Homeric and inhuman,
Drowning all further sense in one wild roar.
I heard the spotted girl with leopard lips
Complain that she was hungry as before,
And all the world was merged in an eclipse,
Darkening the air around and overhead,
And then I broke away and turned and fled.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

34 sec read
119

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABACDEDEFGFGHH
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 591
Words 115
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14

Wilfrid Scawen Blunt

Wilfrid Scawen Blunt was an English poet and writer. more…

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