143. The Sonnet by Louis Lavater. Murdoch, Walter, comp. 1918. The Oxford Book of Australasian Verse

Walter Murdoch (1874–1970). The Oxford Book of Australasian Verse. 1918.

143. The Sonnet

By Louis Lavater


BUT thou hast read how Cleopatra went
To Antony, her lustrous eyes a-shine,
Through mazy webs of love fit to entwine
A simple conqueror palaced in a tent;
And how her pearl, a monarch’s ransom, blent	5
Its iridescence with the sharp white wine
To pleasure her, as with an air divine
She quaffed it to the Roman’s dazzlement.

In such wise make, and take, a sonnet. Throw
Into the wine, emotion, the pure pearl	10
Of artistry, and while ’tis yet a-swirl
And beading bravely, snare with subtile craft
A gleam of golden light upon it—so!
Then, breathless, drain it at a single draught!