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 | The poems of Madison Cawein |  |
197
IDENTITIES
I sat alone in the arrased room
Of Sin, wrapped pale in her winding shroud;
The night was stricken with glare and gloom,
And the wailing wind was loud.
Of Sin, wrapped pale in her winding shroud;
The night was stricken with glare and gloom,
And the wailing wind was loud.
I heard the gallop of one who rode
Like a rushing leaf on the wind that lisps;
The night with the speed of her steed was sowed
With streaming will-o'-the-wisps.
Like a rushing leaf on the wind that lisps;
The night with the speed of her steed was sowed
With streaming will-o'-the-wisps.
And I said to myself, “'Tis a long-lost Shame,
Who rides to my house through the night and rain!
She will blaze in the blackness a face of flame
When she opens the door again!”
Who rides to my house through the night and rain!
She will blaze in the blackness a face of flame
When she opens the door again!”
198
I thought of the blame on her lips and brow;
And stared at the door she must enter in—
To sear my soul with her eyes and bow
My heart by the corpse of Sin.
And stared at the door she must enter in—
To sear my soul with her eyes and bow
My heart by the corpse of Sin.
As hushed as the mansion of death was night,
When, dark as a sob of the storm, she came—
But her face, like beautiful Sin's, was white,
And her face and Sin's—the same!
When, dark as a sob of the storm, she came—
But her face, like beautiful Sin's, was white,
And her face and Sin's—the same!
| The poems of Madison Cawein | |