THOU LEANEST TO THE SHELL OF NIGHT
by: James Joyce (1882-1941)
 HOU leanest
to the shell of night,
- Dear lady, a divining ear.
- In that soft choiring of delight
- What sound hath made thy heart to fear?
- Seemed it of rivers rushing forth
- From the grey deserts of the north?
-
- That mood of thine, O timorous,
- Is his, if thou but scan it well,
- Who a mad tale bequeaths to us
- At ghosting hour conjurable--
- And all for some strange name he read
- In Purchas or in Holinshed.
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"Thou leanest to the shell
of night" is reprinted from Chamber Music. James
Joyce. London: Elkin Mathews, 1907. |
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POEMS BY JAMES JOYCE |
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