Vigil and vision New Sonnets by John Payne |
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AUGUSTE VILLIERS DE L'ISLE ADAM. |
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 | Vigil and vision |  |
AUGUSTE VILLIERS DE L'ISLE ADAM.
VILLIERS, old friend, strange spirit, weird but true,Seeker of that which no man, new or old,
Of woman born might ever yet behold,
What sad sardonic Fate, in days undue,
Was it thy footsteps to the tomb that drew?
What Parcæ, lustres nine scarce overtold,
Put thy fair lamp out, froze thy hot blood cold,
Whilst yet the light of life in thee was new?
Alack, the abyss, by Fate's relentless law,
Once gazed upon, the life to it doth draw,
And thou, beyond the bounds of nights and days
Seeking, with straining hands and eyes that yearn,
Hadst trespassed on the undiscovered ways
And looked upon the Land of No Return.
| Vigil and vision | |