The Andante of Snakes
Arthur Symons 1865 (Milford Haven) – 1945
They weave a slow andante as in sleep,
Scaled yellow, swampy black, plague-spotted white;
With blue and lidless eyes at watch they keep
A treachery of silence; infinite
Ancestral angers brood in these dull eyes
Where the long-lineaged venom of the snake
Meditates evil; woven intricacies
Of Oriental arabesque awake,
Unfold, expand, contract, and raise and sway
Swoln heart-shaped heads, flattened as by a heel,
Erect to suck the sunlight from the day,
And stealthily and gradually reveal
Dim cabalistic signs of spots and rings
Among their folds of faded tapestry;
Then these fat, foul, unbreathing, moving things
Droop back to stagnant immobility.
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 31 sec read
- 72 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | AXAX XBXB CDCD EFEF |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 657 |
Words | 105 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4 |
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"The Andante of Snakes" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 23 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/4010/the-andante-of-snakes>.
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