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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


SUNKEN GOLD by EUGENE JACOB LEE-HAMILTON

First Line: IN DIM GREEN DEPTHS ROT INGOT-LADEN SHIPS
Last Line: THE GLEAM OF IRRECOVERABLE GOLD.
Subject(s): DISASTERS; GOLD; SHIPWRECKS; TREASURES;

IN dim green depths rot ingot-laden ships;
And gold doubloons, that from the drowned hand fell,
Lie nestled in the ocean-flower's bell
With love's old gifts, once kissed by long-drowned lips;
And round some wrought gold cup the seagrass whips,
And hides lost pearls, near pearls still in their shell,
Where sea-weed forests fill each ocean dell
And seek dim sunlight with their restless tips.
So lie the wasted gifts, the long-lost hopes
Beneath the now hushed surface of myself,
In lonelier depths than where the diver gropes;
They lie deep, deep; but I at times behold
In doubtful glimpses, on some reefy shelf,
The gleam of irrecoverable gold.



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