The Poetry Corner

Atlantis

By Clark Ashton Smith

Above its domes the gulfs accumulate To where the sea-winds trumpet forth their screed; But here the buried waters take no heed - Deaf, and with closd lips from press of weight Imposed by ocean. Dim, inanimate, On temples of an unremembered creed Involved in long, slow tentacles of weed, The dead tide lies immovable as Fate. From out the ponderous-vaulted ocean-dome, A clouded light is questionably shed On altars of a goddess garlanded With blossoms of some weird and hueless vine; And wingd, fleet, through skies beneath the foam, Like silent birds the sea-things dart and shine.