Time
Unfathomable Sea! whose waves are years,
Ocean of Time, whose waters of deep woe
Are brackish with the salt of human tears!
Thou shoreless flood, which in thy ebb and flow
Claspest the limits of mortality,
And sick of prey, yet howling on for more,
Vomitest thy wrecks on its inhospitable shore;
Treacherous in calm, and terrible in storm,
Who shall put forth on thee,
Unfathomable Sea?
Irene Latham is hosting Poetry Friday this week. Thank you, and goodnight, Irene.
7 comments:
Vomitest? Percy, you made that up!
That word hit me, too. Metaphorically, of course...
Here's the deal. Percy originally used the word "pukest," but his critique group told him it wasn't a classy enough word. Thankfully, Percy agreed.
They should have offered some more colorful alternatives:
heavest
spewest
upchuckest
blow lunchest
You have such a way with words, D, but you forgot the very "throw-upest" Too pedestrian?
Not so much pedestrian, it just might be too gruesome if you associated throw-upest with someone who "threw-upest his hands." Picture it--ripping off hands, ingesting them, then the whole egesting thing. Eeewww. (By the way, I forgot to put egest-est on my earlier list. Consider it now added.)
Gotta love Shelley!
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