Page:Poems Bibesco.djvu/57

Of frightened loveliness I take to you,
No virgin avarice of white and blue,
     But just my pain,
That, having given you, I must give again."

Beauty, from out the madness of her bosom,
     Spoke: "I will blossom
Though all the saints and cowards say ' Be wise
     And eschew Paradise.'
So from the folly of fear's boundary
     I'll set perfection free,"

Wake up, my love, oh my dear love, Awake!
Lest when death comes he finds no life to take,
But sees a heap of sheaths that knew no swords.
An empty tomb embittered with the words—

"Here lies beauty,
 But I lie
Further from Eternity.
For in choosing to be wise
 I rejected Paradise."

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