Ibant Obscuræ
Ibant Obscuræ
Original Text
Thomas Edward Brown, Old John, and other poems (London: Macmillan, 1893). PR 4175 B5 O4 Robarts Library
2 Dark-robed descending to the sea,
3So slow, so silent of all speech,
4 And visible to me
5Only by that strange drift-light, dim, forlorn,
6Of the sun's wreck and clashing surges born.
7Each after other went,
8 And they were gathered to his breast--
9It seemed to me a sacrament
10 Of some stern creed unblest:
11As when to rocks, that cheerless girt the bay,
12They bound thy holy limbs, Andromeda.
Notes
1] Ibant obscuræ: Obscure they passed. Cf. Virgil's Æneid, VI, 268:
Ibant obscuri sola sub nocte per umbram.Back to Line
Publication Start Year
1893
RPO poem Editors
J. D. Robins
RPO Edition
2RP.2.594; RPO 1996-2000.
Rhyme