As goblins' eyes might gleam
Or baleful rubies glare,
Muffled in smoke or incense-laden air.
And thou, most weird companion, thou dost seem
Some mottled moth of Hell,
That stealthily might fly
To hover there above the carnal bell
Of some black lily, still and venomous,
And poise forever thus.
Sterling delights in the use of jewel-like comparisons, and many of his poems scintillate with this jeweled brilliancy. In them is color in abundance and often a touch of delicate fantasy:
Then from the maelstroms of the surf arose
With laughter, mystical, and up the sands
Came two that walked with intertwining hands
Amid those ocean snows.
Ghostly they shone before the lofty spray—
Fairer than gods and naked as the moon,
The foamy fillets at their ankles strewn
Less marble-white than they.
Laughing they stood, then to our beacon’s glare
Drew nearer, as we watched in mad surprise
The scarlet-flashing lips, the sea-green eyes,
The red and tangled hair.
George Sterling was born at Sag Harbor, New York, on December 1, 1869, the son of George Ansel and Mary Parker (Havens) Sterling. He was educated in private and public schools and at St. Charles College, Elliott City, Md.
