I WOULD go down to meet the infinite sea, And give my body to the sharp salt wave, That it might seize, and sting, and harry me, And dash me lifeless in a lifeless cave, And there for ever dream against my side,— O God, O God, so I were purified! Would I might marry me to subtle flame Till eyes and lips were merely ashes white, Till with the human passed the human shame Of sordid pain and undivine delight,— Would all strange tortures had my soul for bride, O God, O God, so I were purified! When I draw round my flesh the veils of death, Soaked with the mist of twilight thro' and thro', When to the burning blood there entereth The solace of imperishable dew; When I go out into Thy dusk to hide, O God, O God, shall I be purified? | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ABOVE AND WITHIN by DAVID IGNATOW MOTHERHOOD by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON THE BLACK MAMMY by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON BONNYBELL: THE GRAY SPHEX by EDGAR LEE MASTERS FAIR HARVARD by GEORGE SANTAYANA THAT KIND OF POEM' by KAREN SWENSON JOHANNA PEDERSEN by KAREN SWENSON |