Areytos or songs and ballads of the South

Oh! the Sin, the Beautiful Sin,
How it haunted me night and day,
Ever with pleading most sure to win,
Ever with winning most sure to sway;
So, together, by shore and sea,
In grove and in city, ever the same,
With that Beautiful Sin I wanton'd free,
Nor heeded the sin, nor dream'd the shame;
Blinded and madden'd, I never could see,
Nor fear the sin, nor feel the shame!

II.

And oh! so sweet was that Beautiful Sin,
I laid myself down by the adder's nest,
Nor heard the hisses that rose within,
Nor fear'd the rise of each snaky crest;
I slept in the folds of her fatal form,
Nor dream'd of the vipers that made her breast,
And the pillow was soft, and the clasp was warm,
And I thought that the beautiful thing was bless'd;
In my heart's madness lay all the charm,
And I peril'd my soul, and thought it bless'd!

III.

And I wander'd away from the ancient fold,
So sacred from age and a thousand ties:
For I fancied the ancient and pure were cold,
And lacking in light of beautiful eyes;
Beautiful eyes still floated before
The dreamy visions that won mine own,
And they drew me away with a passionate lore
From all the dear haunts to my childhood known;
From the precious of boyhood away I tore,
And shook myself free from the early known—

IV.

The innocent places of play—the groves,
In whose hallowed shelter my childhood grew,
That should have been precious to thousand loves,
For I felt them pure, and I knew them true;
Alas! in that wild and willful hour,
As I wander'd off under Passion's sway,
I strove to forget each tree and flower,
Nor hearken'd the bird as it sang by the way!
'Gainst that Beautiful Sin she had no power,
And I shut mine ears to her pleading lay!

V.

Oh! how the dear friends of my boyhood strove
'Gainst the Tempter's glozing, but all in vain;
For my soul was drunk with the deadliest love,
That wrought like a madness in breast and brain!
How he mock'd at the life, so tame and cold,
That my comrades lived in their simple sphere;
How he sang of the braver life, so bold,
That wrestled with Passion and knew no fear:
Drain'd the purple fires, and grew more bold,
And wrestled with Passion and knew no fear!

VI.

Never was Tempter so subtly arm'd
With the spells that snare the innocent heart;
How he sang and spoke; with what passion charm'd,
With ever-fresh fancy, and glozing art!
He suffer'd no brooding thought to rise,
No memory fond of the Past to plead,
But with ever-new magic for fancy's eyes,
He won me on to each erring deed;
'Till the earth grew changed, and the very skies
Were fashion'd in aspect to suit my need.

VII.

So to regions of other delights we came,
And here, he said, let us haply dwell;
Here the Beautiful Sin, with her eyes of flame,
Wrapt every sense in a magic spell;
She flung through the air her mystic powers,
She breathed o'er the forests a subtle sweet,
And the very breath that was breathed from the flowers,
Had a magic to fetter the soul and feet;
I lapsed in dream for a thousand hours,
Nor felt the bonds on my soul and feet!

VIII.

'Twas a wild delirium then that I felt,
Most fatal to thought in that wizard clime;
I lapsed away, as the icebergs melt,
'Neath the fiery beams of the summer time;
I lapsed away, till the will to strive,
To seek, resist and achieve, was gone!
I was, of the thousand things alive,
The very least living in blood and bone:
What need had the brain or the soul to strive,
When the uses of both were dead and gone?

IX.

And for long, long seasons, that Beautiful Sin
Was all that I craved in that magic place:
She wrapped me without, and pierced me within,
And nestled me fond in her close embrace;
She sang me such songs of a passionate bliss,
That I shut mine eyes the better to hear;
She showed me such charms, that, at every kiss,
I opened mine eyes, while I shut mine ear:
But, at last, I awaked to the adder's hiss,
And, beneath the bright flowers, I saw him near!

X.

'Twas the last moment, the perilous hour,
When all the good spirits that watch o'er men,
So hopeless long, of each holy power,
Made one fond effort to save me then;
And sudden beside me up-sprang a flower,
The rarest and brightest to mortal ken—
And a starry cross, in its breast, had power
To chase from mine eyes all the glamour then:
To blight the false blooms in that fatal bower,
And show me the nakedness round me then!

XI.

'Twas a terrible waking, and dread the change!
In place of bright skies and a sunny clime,
The place grew sterile and wild and strange,
As suddenly blighted by storm and time;
The flowers all withered, and in their place
Grew nightshade, and hemlock, and weeds of ill;
And she, the so beautiful form of grace,
In her was the change more fearful still:
Instead of fair form and angel face,
Was the demon visage and look to kill!

XII.

The wine cup she bore held a venom'd draught,
That was fatal of poison to soul and heart;
Her smile of love was a deadly shaft,
The very last hope from the soul to part;
Her arms that wound me, so fond and warm,
Were coiling snakes; and her heaving breast,
Once snowy white, with each melting charm,
Were heads of the serpents laid to rest;
And she, herself, wore a snaky form,
And her tresses were adders that made her crest!

XIII.

I fled!—but with pall'd and palsied soul!
With such feeble limbs, for my strength was gone,
I felt I should never reach the goal,
That flitted before as I hurried on;
The goal of refuge, in calmer sphere,
Beyond me lay, and a patch of blue
In the distant sky, show'd a realm as clear
As that was horrid from which I flew;
Yes, still I could see the pure, bright sphere,
Far off, all wooing, and meant to woo.

XIV.

And, even as I fled, the Terrible Sin,
Her snakes uncoiled, in her rage pursued!
Oh! the horrid hiss, the cruel din,
Of the rattling scales of that viper brood!
And fainting I sank on the desert plain,
And had perish'd there; but I sudden heard
The dear sweet song of my home again,
That pleading lay of the household bird,
The same, as I sped from my native plain,
That had followed my flight with its pleading word.

XV.

“My mother! my mother!”—'twas then I cried—
“The ancient home and the simple sphere!
The peace! the peace! worth the world beside!
Oh! why did I leave ye to perish here?”
'Twas my mother's voice in that bird-song rose,
And it strengthened my heart, and it bore me on;
And it checked the rush of my eager foes,
And they howled with rage as they found me gone.
How I sped, as the bird before me rose!
How I shouted with prayer, when my foes were gone!

XVI.

And mine eyes grew clear, and my heart grew light,
And my soul grew strong as I fled apace;
And the blue skies warmed to a beautiful bright,
And the woods grew sweet with an innocent grace;
And the sweet bird flew, before, till I knew
All the ancient oaks in the well-known place;
And down on the sward my form I threw,
And blessed the good God for the granted grace:
For the peace restored that my childhood knew,
And the innocent joy of that ancient place!

University of Virginia Library

LAMIA—THE BEAUTIFUL SIN.

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