| Robert Graves (1895–1985). Fairies and Fusiliers. 1918. |
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| 23. Jonah |
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| A PURPLE whale | |
| Proudly sweeps his tail | |
| Towards Nineveh; | |
| Glassy green | |
| Surges between | 5 |
| A mile of roaring sea. | |
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| “O town of gold, | |
| Of splendour multifold, | |
| Lucre and lust, | |
| Leviathan’s eye | 10 |
| Can surely spy | |
| Thy doom of death and dust.” | |
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| On curving sands | |
| Vengeful Jonah stands. | |
| “Yet forty days, | 15 |
| Then down, down, | |
| Tumbles the town | |
| In flaming ruin ablaze.” | |
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| With swift lament | |
| Those Ninevites repent. | 20 |
| They cry in tears, | |
| “Our hearts fail!” | |
| The whale, the whale! | |
| Our sins prick us like spears.” | |
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| Jonah is vexed; | 25 |
| He cries, “What next? what next?” | |
| And shakes his fist. | |
| “Stupid city, | |
| The shame, the pity, | |
| The glorious crash I’ve missed.” | 30 |
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| Away goes Jonah grumbling, | |
| Murmuring and mumbling; | |
| Off ploughs the purple whale, | |
| With disappointed tail. | |
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