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"In Extremis"

Till dawn the winds' insuperable throng
passed over like archangels in their might,
with roar of chariots from their stormy height,
and broken thunder of mysterious song-
by mariner or sentry heard along
the star-usurping battlements of night-
and wafture of immeasurable flight,
and high-blown trumpets mutinous and strong.
Till louder on the dreadful dark I heard
the shrieking of the tempest-tortured tree,
and deeper on immensity the call
and tumult of the empire-forging sea;
but near the eternal Peace I lay, nor stirred,
knowing the happy dead hear not at all.

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Comments

  • Eusebius
    October 24, 2006
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    Exceptional

    Exceptional, absolutely exceptional--the reader can see his influence on Clark Ashton Smith, even from this one sonnet!


  • EdgeOfEternity
    February 14, 2006
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    exceptional

    words can't describe how astonishing this poem is.


  • February 7, 2005
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    One of the best poems in Literature.