Still own thee－still thou art 1
What surgeons call alive－
Though slipping－slipping I perceive
To thy reportless Grave－
Which question shall I clutch－5
What answer wrest from thee
Before thou dost exude away
In the recalless sea?
What surgeons call alive－
Though slipping－slipping I perceive
To thy reportless Grave－
Which question shall I clutch－5
What answer wrest from thee
Before thou dost exude away
In the recalless sea?
(F.1654/J.1633)
[1] Still:: stillness.
[2] surgeons:: surgeon-fish.
[4] Grave:: solemnness.
[3, 8] skipping, sea:: a hint on fish that slip to sea.
surgeon-fish (strict vegetarians in diet), some of whose members, in justification of the name, carry lancets in their tails and bleed the unwary, we have nothing to remark, all of them being exotic and unknown to the ancients; ─ Fraser's Magazine (1853)
The Sea Surgeon is a good type of these fishes, and derives its popular name from the sharply pointed and keen-edged spine on the side of the tail, which cuts and wounds like a surgeon's lancet. ─ The Illustrated Natural History (1863)
