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19

SONNET XVII
WHITE AND BLACK

A most sweet vision holds my spirit now,
And Music adds its magic (for before
My dreams were silent as a moonless shore
At midnight, or a vessel's midnight prow).
Over a woman's stately marble brow
A pure cascade of coal-black hair doth pour:—
The black-brown tresses that I loved of yore,
Darkened by contrast of her body of snow.
Ah! lady, goddess, is it not enough
To overcome me with thy body of white
Surrounded with that mist of tresses black,
As the moon rides serene upon the rough
Dark breakers of invulnerable night?—
Must eyes and fiery mouth pursue my track?
1873.