The Mother’s Tragedy

( 80) MORS JANUA AMORIS N the night my passion fancies That an incense vapour whirls, That a cloud of perfume trances With its dreamy vapour-curls All my soul, with whom there dances The one girl of mortal girls. The one girl whose wanton glances Soften into living pearls Comes, a fatal, fleeting vision, Turns my kisses to derision, Smiles upon my breast, and sighs, Flits, and laughs, and fades, and dies. By the potent starry speeches; By the spells of mystic kings; By the magic passion teaches; By the strange and sacred things By whose power the master reaches To the stubborn fiery springs; By the mystery of the beaches , Where the siren Sibyl sings; I will hold her, live and bleeding; Clasp her to me, pale and pleading;