The Draught of Life.
139
With passion vexed the dark eyes sudden flashed
Through lifted lashes, and a mounting flame
Across the velvet texture of the cheek
Turned lilies into roses. Dashing down
The crystal chalice till its fragments rang
A hundred death-knells on the marble floor
And shivered into silence, while there ran
Across her spurning feet the limpid tide
To flow away and fade to nothingness
In far-off corners, hotly cried the maid:
"I will not have it! Flat and flavourless,
I hate—I loathe it. Long a tasteless draught
Have I been drinking, deeming it was Life,
While others quaff the rich and ruddy juice
Of wealthy vineyards mellow with the warmth
Of garnered summers, and the poignant charm
Of far-off countries, where the very air
Is fragrant with romance, and every night,
In chiselled silver, mimics every day's
Full burnished gold, and every honied breeze
Can whisper secrets to the dreaming fields,
And every flower that nods a perfumed head
Is full of passion. Oh! from such a land
What generous floods, blood-red and golden-brown
And amber-tinted fill the happy veins
Through lifted lashes, and a mounting flame
Across the velvet texture of the cheek
Turned lilies into roses. Dashing down
The crystal chalice till its fragments rang
A hundred death-knells on the marble floor
And shivered into silence, while there ran
Across her spurning feet the limpid tide
To flow away and fade to nothingness
In far-off corners, hotly cried the maid:
"I will not have it! Flat and flavourless,
I hate—I loathe it. Long a tasteless draught
Have I been drinking, deeming it was Life,
While others quaff the rich and ruddy juice
Of wealthy vineyards mellow with the warmth
Of garnered summers, and the poignant charm
Of far-off countries, where the very air
Is fragrant with romance, and every night,
In chiselled silver, mimics every day's
Full burnished gold, and every honied breeze
Can whisper secrets to the dreaming fields,
And every flower that nods a perfumed head
Is full of passion. Oh! from such a land
What generous floods, blood-red and golden-brown
And amber-tinted fill the happy veins
