V
As we read Love and Death in either's eyes,
We see the cool mild splendour of the dawn
Damned by some tragic throw of murderous dice
To slash like lightning over lea and lawn
Jagged and horrible across the curtain
Of heaven, writing ruin, ruin—we see
Our certain joy marred with a doubly certain
Soul-shattering anguish.—Bah! To you and me
Such loathing, such despair are little things.
We are afloat on the flood-tide of lust—
A lust more spiritual than life, that stings
Till death and hell dissolve i' the aftergust.
So? But the Gods avert their faces, bend
Their holy brows, and see—no happy end.
We see the cool mild splendour of the dawn
Damned by some tragic throw of murderous dice
To slash like lightning over lea and lawn
Jagged and horrible across the curtain
Of heaven, writing ruin, ruin—we see
Our certain joy marred with a doubly certain
Soul-shattering anguish.—Bah! To you and me
Such loathing, such despair are little things.
We are afloat on the flood-tide of lust—
A lust more spiritual than life, that stings
Till death and hell dissolve i' the aftergust.
So? But the Gods avert their faces, bend
Their holy brows, and see—no happy end.
— 7 —
