Ebony and Crystal/The Harlot of the World
THE HARLOT OF THE WORLD
O Life, thou harlot who beguilest all!Beautiful in thy house, the gorgeous world,Abidest thou, where Powers pinion-furledAnd flying Splendours follow to thy call.
Innumerous like the stars or like the dust,Nations and monarchs were thy thralls of yore:Unto the grave's old womb forevermoreHast thou betrayed the passion and the lust.
Fair as the moon of summer is thy face,And mystical with cloudiness of hair.***Only an eye, subornless by delight,
Shall find within thy phosphorescent gazeThose caverns of corruption and despair,Where the Worm toileth in the charnel night.