Transcribed from the 1896 Chatto & Windus edition by David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org
printed by
spottiswoode and co., new-street square
london
THE TALE OF BALEN
by
ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE
LONDON
CHATTO & WINDUS, PICCADILLY
1896
Copyright in the United States, 1896, by Charles Scribner’s Sons.
DEDICATION
TO MY MOTHER
Love that holds life and death in fee,
Deep as the clear unsounded sea
And sweet as life or death can be,
Lays here my hope, my heart, and me
Before you, silent, in a song.
Since the old wild tale, made new, found grace,
When half sung through, before your face,
It needs must live a springtide space,
While April suns grow strong.
March 24, 1896.