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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
PHANTOMS IN GREEN, by STANLEY KILNER BOOTH First Line: With wine for deep forgetfulness Last Line: Oh, wormwood, how ethereal! Subject(s): Absinthe | |||
With wine for deep forgetfulness, He dips again within the bowl, And seeks a dream of loveliness Down pathways with his poisoned soul. His blood will crave a rendezvous, As absinthe creeps through every vein. Desiring Lethe, how can he rue Her dark nepenthe for his pain? His fantasy is wondrous trailed With crystal gardens, mile on mile; By emerald seas, whence Lethe sailed To greet him with her treacherous smile. Past isles of grotesque imagery, Lit by the moon's weird mandarin, Attuned to lecherous melody: Food of the Serpent, venom-green. The absinthe trails its false delight. The hour is gone -- he lived it all. Now doomed and shattered is the night, As life becomes a draught of gall. No ecstasy is consummate Where Lethe flaunts her naked snare. The dreamer finds that only Hate Strangles him with her wine-soaked hair. Absinthe is but the coward's goal -- And yet, one craves the incorporeal Desire, with its phantomed bowl ... Oh, wormwood, how ethereal! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE ABSINTHE DRINKERS by ROBERT WILLIAM SERVICE CONSOLATION by STANLEY KILNER BOOTH THE ARTIST TO HIS WIFE by STANLEY KILNER BOOTH THIRD BOOK OF AIRS: SONG 27. LOVE, AND NEVER FEAR by THOMAS CAMPION MARIA WENTWORTH by THOMAS CAREW LINCOLN by JOHN GOULD FLETCHER SIR LANCELOT AND QUEEN GUINEVERE by ALFRED TENNYSON A CLEAR MIDNIGHT by WALT WHITMAN STANZAS IN THE MEMORY OF EDWARD QUILLINAN, ESQ. by MATTHEW ARNOLD SONNETS OF MANHOOD: 26. BEYOND by GEORGE BARLOW (1847-1913) |
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