Poem by Rupert Chawner Brooke

A Channel Passage

The damned ship lurched and slithered. Quiet and quick
   My cold gorge rose; the long sea rolled; I knew
I must think hard of something, or be sick;
   And could think hard of only one thing -- YOU!
You, you alone could hold my fancy ever!
   And with you memories come, sharp pain, and dole.
Now there's a choice -- heartache or tortured liver!
   A sea-sick body, or a you-sick soul!

Do I forget you? Retchings twist and tie me,
   Old meat, good meals, brown gobbets, up I throw.
Do I remember? Acrid return and slimy,
   The sobs and slobber of a last years woe.
And still the sick ship rolls. 'Tis hard, I tell ye,
To choose 'twixt love and nausea, heart and belly. 

1. The True Beatitude
2. He Wonders Whether to Praise or to Blame Her
3. Thoughts on the Shape of the Human Body
4. The Way That Lovers Use
5. The Chilterns

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