The Star in the West

THE LOOKING -GLASS 43 From the white inexhaustible quiver , Smote us right through , Smote us and slew , As we rode on the rapturous river . Sweet sleep is perfection of love . To die into dreams of my lover , To wake with his mouth like a dove Kissing me over and over ! Better sleep so Than be conscious , and know How death hath a charm to discover . 1 But not until we read “ The Eyes of Pharaoh " do we read one of the most astounding paintings in words , I make bold to say , that has ever been written in any language : And death's insufferable perfume Beat the black air with golden fans As Turkis rip a Nubian's womb With damascenéd yataghans . ? This one astonishing verse upsets the equilibrium of the whole poem , as it would of any poem ; for if the remaining thirteen had been penned in an equivalent vividness of colouring , the effect would have been one of complete overpowerment rather than of a sudden and dizzy joy . As the aristocratic virtues of one century become the democratic vices of the next , so do the noble renderings of one age of literature become the hack neyed phraseology of the following , this being true whether we are speaking of poetry or prose . Yet one attribute alone remains ever youthful as the ages roll by into the aeons , and that is-Ecstasy ; whether we | Gargoyles , vol. iii, p . 94 . 2 Ibid . vol . iii, p . 100 .