Chapter VI

Love, with her queen's face and child lips
Walked at my side; her hair about her head
Streamed, with riotous and exuberant spread
Like sails and cordage of sea-breasting ships,
And as the tides, her mirthful glints and dips
Tugged at my anchor'd calmness--then she said,
Chilling to gravity, "You are lead."
It was as when the bright blade cruelly slips,
For in my soul that hid its vain desires
Under closed hatch, I knew the stifled fires
Devoured in silence, as stealthy serpents writhe
Their folds about their prey; and seemed to hear
The passing of some irrevocable year,
And faint for whistle of a monstrous scythe.