 | Odes (1894) |  |
72
THE RIVALS
Man's good and evil angels came to dwell
As housemates, at his board and hearth alway;
One, secret as the night, one, frank as day,
Both lovely, and in puissance matched full well.
Each hourly strove her sleepless foe to quell,
And ever and anon the bright fiend lay
Foiled, and her countenance, racked with sick dismay,
Changed, and its tyrannous beauty masklike fell.
As housemates, at his board and hearth alway;
One, secret as the night, one, frank as day,
Both lovely, and in puissance matched full well.
Each hourly strove her sleepless foe to quell,
And ever and anon the bright fiend lay
Foiled, and her countenance, racked with sick dismay,
Changed, and its tyrannous beauty masklike fell.
Ah, could man's thought for ever fix and stay
That glimpse of horrors he might quake to tell
'Twere easy, then, the temptress to repel!
But 'neath the glorious mask and brave array
How shall he know thee, leprous witch of hell,
Robed to allure and fanged to rend and slay?
That glimpse of horrors he might quake to tell
73
But 'neath the glorious mask and brave array
How shall he know thee, leprous witch of hell,
Robed to allure and fanged to rend and slay?
| Odes (1894) | |