Mandragora/The Old Cry

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Published in Mandragora (1917)

565089The Old CryJohn Cowper Powys

THE OLD CRY

IF only ages ago
   I had buried my restless heart
Under mountains of snow
     In a lonely place apart,
I could bring it now to her,
     Locked with a silver key;
And its shadowy pearls would never stir
     From that sweet sanctuary.

Oh wind that wafted my boat
     To the isles where the Sirens sing,
Somewhere — washed up upon sands remote
     Those pearls he glittering.
Gather them, gather them up,
     Oh wind, and bring them to me
In a misty foam-wreathed cup —
     The pearls that I lost in the sea.

Dim with the salt are they,
     Blurred and bleached with the sun;
But, gathered from far away.
     Bring them back, every one;
That Iain once more at rest
     Where her heart beats and feels.
They may sleep forever against her breast,
     Sealed with a thousand seals!

This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1929.


The longest-living author of this work died in 1963, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 60 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.

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