VI
As when the living eyes of man behold
The embalmed seductions of a queen of Khem
Wrapped with much spice and linen and red gold
And guardian gods on every side of them;
Yet inasmuch as life is life, they shrink,
Shrivel and waste to ashes as men gaze:
So doth the world grow giddy at the brink
Of these unfathomable eyes, that blaze
Swifter and deadlier than storms or snakes.
Then—o what wonder, as I strain afar
The basilisk flame!—what breathless wonder wakes
That I behold unsinged a silver star!
O joy! O terror! O!—O can it be
There is a thing that is, apart from me?
The embalmed seductions of a queen of Khem
Wrapped with much spice and linen and red gold
And guardian gods on every side of them;
Yet inasmuch as life is life, they shrink,
Shrivel and waste to ashes as men gaze:
So doth the world grow giddy at the brink
Of these unfathomable eyes, that blaze
Swifter and deadlier than storms or snakes.
Then—o what wonder, as I strain afar
The basilisk flame!—what breathless wonder wakes
That I behold unsinged a silver star!
O joy! O terror! O!—O can it be
There is a thing that is, apart from me?
— 88 —
