 | Poems and dramas of George Cabot Lodge |  |
III
Once was my name as fire, and once my wine
Once was my name as fire, and once my wineFlushed in the veins of youth, and once the strong,
The wise, the lyric, leaped beneath my thong
Of love and hailed me human and divine!
Mine was the world's confessed desire and mine
The echoing thunder of the seas of song,
Priests, virgins, youths—a florid, sumptuous throng—
Gave me luxurious service at my shrine!
Now tho', bereft, I seem perchance as one
Smothered in night whose memory keeps the flush,
The fire and huge transcendence of the sun,
Still, in the apostate world, my fight I know
Is won, and still the lips of manhood crush,
And still the pained blood throbs thro' limbs of snow!
| Poems and dramas of George Cabot Lodge | |