Swinburne

Tuli mieleen sattumalta taas kerran englantilainen runoilija Swinburne, johon pitäisi tutustua paremmin ja jonka runoja pitäisi suomentaa. Hasso Krullin runot Tuli&Savun Längwitz-numerossa 4/2003 viittaavat juuri tähän tyyppiin, ja ovat otteita Swinburne -nimisestä runoelmasta. Pidän esimerkiksi tästä:

Hymn to Proserpine
(After the proclamation in Rome of Christian faith)

Vicisti, Galilaee.

I have lived long enough, having seen one thing, that love hath an end;
Goddess and maiden and queen, be near me now and befriend.
Thou art more than the day or the morrow, the seasons that laugh or that weep;
For these give joy and sorrow; but thou, Proserpina, sleep.
Sweet is the treading of wine, and sweet the feet of the dove;
But a goodlier gift is thine than foam of the grapes or love.
Yea, is not even Apollo, with hair and harpstring of gold,
A bitter God to follow, a beautiful God to behold?
I am sick of singing: the bays burn deep and chafe: I am fain
To rest a little from praise and grievous pleasure and pain.
For the Gods we know not of, who give us our daily breath,
We know they are cruel as love or life, and lovely as death. [...]

Algernon Charles Swinburne