The Tale of Balen/Dedication

by Algernon Charles Swinburne

For works with similar titles, see Dedication.

DEDICATION.

 

TO MY MOTHER.

Love that holds life and death in fee,
Deep as the clear unsounded sea
And sweet as life or death can be,
Lays here my hope, my heart, and me
Before you, silent, in a song.
Since the old wild tale, made new, found grace,
When half sung through, before your face,
It needs must live a springtide space,
While April suns grow strong.

March 24, 1896.