The pavement's rare mosaics
Are cruelly scarred and shattered,
I guess a nymph, a triton,
A writhing, scaly shape
Each crowned with blue sea-lilies;
Here fair-haired Ariadne
Bewails her faithless Theseus,
There's proud Europa's rape.
Are cruelly scarred and shattered,
I guess a nymph, a triton,
A writhing, scaly shape
Each crowned with blue sea-lilies;
Here fair-haired Ariadne
Bewails her faithless Theseus,
There's proud Europa's rape.
The panelled ceilings likewise
Though weather-stained and mouldy,
Reveal in dim presentments
Huge shapes, half god, half beast,
Of gorgon, sphinx and titan—
Now, should I have the courage
To sleep in that great chamber
That looks toward the east?
Though weather-stained and mouldy,
Reveal in dim presentments
Huge shapes, half god, half beast,
Of gorgon, sphinx and titan—
Now, should I have the courage
To sleep in that great chamber
That looks toward the east?
What should I see at midnight
Against the pale walls painted
With clustered grapes and roses
Quick flitting here and there?
A ghostly cavaliere
Superb in tawny velvet
Wide ruffed and jewel cinctured,
Or phantom lady fair?
Against the pale walls painted
With clustered grapes and roses
Quick flitting here and there?
A ghostly cavaliere
Superb in tawny velvet
Wide ruffed and jewel cinctured,
Or phantom lady fair?
Or should I hear ere sunrise
Slow climbing from the gateway,
That low gate to the westward
That fronts upon the sea,
A Something upward dragging
From step to step its heavy,
Cold, glistening coils—and nearer—
Oh, shrinking heart of me!
Slow climbing from the gateway,
That low gate to the westward
That fronts upon the sea,
A Something upward dragging
From step to step its heavy,
Cold, glistening coils—and nearer—
Oh, shrinking heart of me!
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