 | Laurella and other poems |  |
205
PARADISE FOUND.
Naked, in despair,
Ashes on my hair,
Menace everywhere,
I fled from pallid Care.
Ashes on my hair,
Menace everywhere,
I fled from pallid Care.
Weak as lamb new-yean'd,
Followed by the fiend,
With his whip of wires
Red with my desires.
Followed by the fiend,
With his whip of wires
Red with my desires.
Soon a sage drew near,
Clad my stripes in fear,
Bade me weep and wait,
At a temple gate.
Clad my stripes in fear,
Bade me weep and wait,
At a temple gate.
But a maiden came
With tender hands of flame,
And by secret ways
She led me many days.
With tender hands of flame,
And by secret ways
She led me many days.
206
In the woodlands wild,
Now no more a child,
Among seraphs bright
I clothe my limbs in light.
Now no more a child,
Among seraphs bright
I clothe my limbs in light.
Where the children sleep,
Like a snake I creep;
Kiss them on the face
For their greater grace.
Like a snake I creep;
Kiss them on the face
For their greater grace.
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