Since at the dusk thy kiss to me, and I

Wept at caresses that were once all joy,

I have slept, seeing through Futurity

The uncreated ages visibly!

Foresuffering phantoms crowded in the womb

Of Time, and all with lamentable mien

Accusing without mercy, thee and me!

And without pity! for tho' some were far

From birth, and without name, others were near—

Sodom and dark Gomorrah—from whose flames

Fleeing one turned ... how like her look to mine

When the tree's horror trembled on my taste!

And Babylon upbuilded on our sin;

And Nineveh, a city sinking slow

Under a shroud of sandy centuries

That hid me not from the buried cursing eyes

Of women who e'er-bitterly gave birth!

[Pg 33]

Ah, to be mother of all misery!

To be first-called out of the earth and fail

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