Gargoyles

Still red, but red with the ecstasy of blood. Dear love, dear wife, dear mother of the child Whose fair faint features are a match for mine, Lurks there no secret where your body smiled, No serpent in the generous draught of wine? Did I guess all, who guessed your life well given Up to my kiss? Aha! the veil is riven! Beneath the smiling mask of a young bride Languorous, luscious, melancholy-eyed; Beneath the gentle raptures, hints celestial Of holy secrets, kisses like soft dew, Beneath the amorous mystery, I view The surer shape, a visage grim and bestial, A purpose sly and deadly, a black shape, A tiger snarling, or a grinning ape Resolved by every devilish device Upon my murder. This I clearly see Now you are—for an hour—away from me. I see it once; no need to tell me twice! II. Some Yankee yelled—I tag it to a rime— ‘* You can’t fool all the people all the time.” 39