Once, long ago-if I remember rightly-my life was a sumptuous feast, where all hearts opened and all wines flowed. One night, I set Beauty on my lap. -And found her bitter. -And reviled her. I rebelled against justice. I fled. Oh witches, oh misery and hatred, @3you@1 have been the guardians of my treasure. At last I banished all human hope from my mind. Upon each joy, to strangle it, I made the soundless spring of a wild beast. I summoned the executioners so that, dying, I might bite the butts of their guns. I summoned the scourges to choke me with blood and sand. Misfortune was my god. I sprawled in the mire. I dried myself off in the crime-filled air. And I played some fine tricks on madness. Then spring brought me the idiot's frightful laugh. Of late, however, since I nearly squawked my last, I have again toyed with the idea of seeking the key to the bygone feast, where perhaps I might revive my appetite. Charity is the key! -An inspiration which proves I have been dreaming! "You shall remain a hyena, etc.," shrieks the demon who crowned me with such amiable poppies. "Earn death with all your appetites, and your selfishness and all the capital sins." Ah! I've had too much already: -But dear Satan, I implore you, don't scowl at me so! And while awaiting my few little misdeeds in arrears, you who love in writers the absence of descriptive or edifying talents, I shall detach for you these sparse hideous pages from my notebook of the damned. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...AN INVOCATION; SONG, FR. REMORSE by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE TO MUSIC [TO BECALM HIS FEVER] by ROBERT HERRICK UPON THE DEATH OF SIR ALBERT MORTON'S WIFE by MARCUS VALERIUS MARTIALIS DAYS OF THE MONTH by MOTHER GOOSE SUMMER SUN by ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON SONNETS OF MANHOOD: 19. THE SOUTHERN PASSION by GEORGE BARLOW (1847-1913) |