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Wild honey from various thyme

By Michael Field [i.e. K. H. Bradley and E. E. Cooper]

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ON AN ASPIC FOUND GLIDING TOWARD THE SEA
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82

ON AN ASPIC FOUND GLIDING TOWARD THE SEA

Who art thou, Aspic of the dazzled eyes,
And swaying as a drunkard from his drink?
Seaward thou glidest, in the sea to sink,
A sacred alien, a sacrifice.
Who hath devoted thee? What hast thou done?
That wound is as a jewel 'mid thy scales;
Thy forkèd tongue still tenderly assails.
As some amazing honour thou had'st won,
As thou wert stricken by too vast a doom,
And to the gods must recommend thy plight,
Thou foamest through the sand. Back to a tomb
I follow thy fresh steps. Ah, there in sight
The golden spindle that devised thy wound,
And Cleopatra marvellously swooned!