Songs of the Springtides and Birthday Ode

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Ode, by Algernon Charles Swinburne
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Title: Songs of the Springtides and Birthday Ode
Taken from The Collected Poetical Works of Algernon Charles
Swinburne--Vol. III
Author: Algernon Charles Swinburne
Release Date: April 30, 2006 [EBook #18287]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
0. START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SONGS OF
THE SPRINGTIDES ***
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SONGS OF THE SPRINGTIDES
BIRTHDAY ODE
Taken from
THE COLLECTED POETICAL WORKS
OF
ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE,
VOL. III
By

Algernon Charles Swinburne
SWINBURNE'S POETICAL WORKS
I. POEMS AND BALLADS (First Series).
II. SONGS BEFORE SUNRISE, AND SONGS OF TWO
NATIONS.
III. POEMS AND BALLADS (Second and Third
Series), and SONGS OF THE SPRINGTIDES.
IV. TRISTRAM OF LYONESSE, THE TALE OF BALEN,
ATALANTA IN CALYDON, ERECHTHEUS.
V. STUDIES IN SONG, A CENTURY OF ROUNDELS,
SONNETS
ON ENGLISH DRAMATIC POETS, THE HEPTALOGIA, ETC.
VI. A MIDSUMMER HOLIDAY, ASTROPHEL, A CHANNEL
PASSAGE
AND OTHER POEMS.
LONDON: WILLIAM HEINEMANN
SONGS OF THE SPRINGTIDES
BIRTHDAY ODE
By
Algernon Charles Swinburne
1917

LONDON: WILLIAM HEINEMANN
_First printed (Chatto), 1904_
_Reprinted 1904, '09, '10, '12_
_(Heinemann), 1917_
_London: William Heinemann, 1917_
SONGS OF THE SPRINGTIDES
TO EDWARD JOHN TRELAWNY 293
THALASSIUS 295
ON THE CLIFFS 311
THE GARDEN OF CYMODOCE 326
BIRTHDAY ODE 341
NOTES 359
SONGS OF THE SPRINGTIDES
DEDICATION
TO EDWARD JOHN TRELAWNY
_A sea-mew on a sea-king's wrist alighting,
As the north sea-wind
caught and strained and curled
The raven-figured flag that led men
fighting
From field to green field of the water-world,
Might find
such brief high favour at his hand
For wings imbrued with brine, with
foam impearled,
As these my songs require at yours on land,
That
durst not save for love's free sake require,
Being lightly born between
the foam and sand,
But reared by hope and memory and desire
Of
lives that were and life that is to be,
Even such as filled his heavenlier

song with fire
Whose very voice, that sang to set man free,
Was in
your ears as ever in ours his lyre,
Once, ere the flame received him
from the sea._
THALASSIUS
Upon the flowery forefront of the year,
One wandering by the
grey-green April sea
Found on a reach of shingle and shallower sand

Inlaid with starrier glimmering jewellery
Left for the sun's love and
the light wind's cheer
Along the foam-flowered strand

Breeze-brightened, something nearer sea than land
Though the last
shoreward blossom-fringe was near,
A babe asleep with flower-soft
face that gleamed
To sun and seaward as it laughed and dreamed,

Too sure of either love for either's fear,
Albeit so birdlike slight and
light, it seemed
Nor man nor mortal child of man, but fair
As even
its twin-born tenderer spray-flowers were,
That the wind scatters like
an Oread's hair.
For when July strewed fire on earth and sea
The last time ere that
year,
Out of the flame of morn Cymothoe
Beheld one brighter than
the sunbright sphere
Move toward her from its fieriest heart, whence
trod
The live sun's very God,
Across the foam-bright water-ways
that are
As heavenlier heavens with star for answering star,
And on
her eyes and hair and maiden mouth
Felt a kiss falling fierier than the
South
And heard above afar
A noise of songs and wind-enamoured
wings
And lutes and lyres of milder and mightier strings,
And
round the resonant radiance of his car
Where depth is one with height,

Light heard as music, music seen as light.
And with that second
moondawn of the spring's
That fosters the first rose,
A sun-child
whiter than the sunlit snows
Was born out of the world of sunless
things
That round the round earth flows and ebbs and flows.
But he that found the sea-flower by the sea

And took to foster like a
graft of earth
Was born of man's most highest and heavenliest birth,


Free-born as winds and stars and waves are free;
A warrior grey
with glories more than years,
Though more of years than change the
quick to dead
Had rained their light and darkness on his head;
A
singer that in time's and memory's ears
Should leave such words to
sing as all his peers
Might praise with hallowing heat of rapturous
tears
Till all the days of human flight were fled.
And at his knees
his fosterling was fed
Not with man's wine and bread
Nor mortal
mother-milk of hopes and fears,
But food of deep memorial days long
sped;
For bread with wisdom and with song for wine
Clear as the
full calm's emerald hyaline.
And from his grave glad lips the boy
would gather
Fine honey of song-notes goldener than gold,
More
sweet than bees make of the breathing heather,
That he, as glad and
bold,
Might drink as they, and keep his spirit from cold.
And the