 | English Roses |  |
ASPASIA.
Who shall deny the world had stept
Unto a broader purpose bright,
And laughed in the eternal light;
Or womanless in sorrow wept,
Persuaded of a better plan;
Or music moved and suffering slept,
And wicked love not idly leapt—
But for the Queenly Courtesan?
Unto a broader purpose bright,
And laughed in the eternal light;
Or womanless in sorrow wept,
Persuaded of a better plan;
Or music moved and suffering slept,
And wicked love not idly leapt—
But for the Queenly Courtesan?
Who shall gainsay, that secret springs
Now in the night for ever lost
And sealed with more than winter frost,
Had made us drink of better things;
And earth seen more imperial man,
Who with lighthearted joy had crost
His present bars nor counted cost—
But for the Queenly Courtesan?
Now in the night for ever lost
And sealed with more than winter frost,
Had made us drink of better things;
And earth seen more imperial man,
Who with lighthearted joy had crost
His present bars nor counted cost—
But for the Queenly Courtesan?
Yet who shall answer, nought is gained
By passion and illicit fires,
And death that lurks in mad desires;
Or prove the living story stained
Is wholly evil for its ban,
And fatal charms could have been chained
For time far other than ordained—
But for the Queenly Courtesan?
By passion and illicit fires,
And death that lurks in mad desires;
Or prove the living story stained
Is wholly evil for its ban,
And fatal charms could have been chained
For time far other than ordained—
But for the Queenly Courtesan?
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