10
proem.
"But thus I loved thee not; before me bowed
A being glorious in majestic pride,
And breathed his love, and passionately vowed
To worship only me, his peerless bride;
And this was thou, but crowned, enrobed, entwined,
With treasures borrowed from my own rich mind!
A being glorious in majestic pride,
And breathed his love, and passionately vowed
To worship only me, his peerless bride;
And this was thou, but crowned, enrobed, entwined,
With treasures borrowed from my own rich mind!
"I knew thee not a creature of my dreams,
And my rapt soul went floating into thine;
My love around thee poured such halo-beams,
Hadst thou been true, had made thee all divine.
And I, too, seemed immortal in my bliss,
When my glad lip thrilled, to thy burning kiss!
And my rapt soul went floating into thine;
My love around thee poured such halo-beams,
Hadst thou been true, had made thee all divine.
And I, too, seemed immortal in my bliss,
When my glad lip thrilled, to thy burning kiss!
"Shrunken and shrivelled into Theseus now
Thou stand'st: behold, the gods have blown away
The airy crown that glittered on thy brow,—
The gorgeous robes which wrapped thee for a day;
Around thee scarce one fluttering fragment clings,—
A poor, lean beggar in all glorious things!
Thou stand'st: behold, the gods have blown away
The airy crown that glittered on thy brow,—
The gorgeous robes which wrapped thee for a day;
Around thee scarce one fluttering fragment clings,—
A poor, lean beggar in all glorious things!
"Nor will I deign to cast on thee my hate;—
It were a ray to tinge with splendor still
The dull, dim twilight of thy after-fate.
Thou shalt pass from me like a dream of ill,—
It were a ray to tinge with splendor still
The dull, dim twilight of thy after-fate.
Thou shalt pass from me like a dream of ill,—
