Ostracized as we are with God -- The watchers of the civilized wastes reverse their signals on our track Lepers of the moon all magically diseased we come among you innocent of our luminous sores unknowing how perturbing lights our spirit on the passion of Man until you turn on us your smooth fools' faces like buttocks bared in aboriginal mockeries We are the sacerdotal clowns Who feed upon the wind and stars and Pulverous pastures of poverty Our wills are formed by curious disciplines beyond your laws You may give birth to us or marry us the chances of your flesh are not our destiny The cuirass of the soul still shines And we are unaware if you confuse such brief corrosion with possession In the raw caverns of the Increate we forge the dusk of Chaos to that imperious jewelry of the Universe -- the Beautiful While to your eyes A delicate crop of criminal mystic immortelles Stands to the censor's scythe. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...EMERSON by MARY ELIZABETH MAPES DODGE A FOREIGN RULER by WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR THE WINDS by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT THE WANDERER: 6. PALINGENSIS: EPILOGUE by EDWARD ROBERT BULWER-LYTTON THE [LAZY] ROOF by FRANK GELETT BURGESS THE PEOPLE by TOMASSO CAMPANELLA TO THE KING, AT HIS ENTRANCE INTO SAXHAM, BY MASTER JOHN CROFTS by THOMAS CAREW |