Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


LOVE'S MASQUERADES: LOVE, THE TRAITOR by THEOPHILE JULIUS HENRY MARZIALS

First Line: AND THERE WAS ONE CAME REELING FROM CAROUSE
Last Line: LEAVING HIS LIFE-BLOOD BLACKENING FROM HIS BREAST.
Subject(s): BETRAYAL; LOVE;

II

And there was one came reeling from carouse,
Hose at his heel, sword trailing through the mire,
Brawling a drunken song, and on fire
At ducats filch'd in some low gambling-house;
And hearing Love from habit drone for hire,
Listless with rose-wreath toppling from her brows,
Clear from the moonlight, nodding in a drowse
In the deep shade of the Cathedral spire,

He ran and woke her with a scurvy jest,
And closed her to him; and Love laughed out clear
Her cruel harlot's laugh; and, hugging, press'd
Her dagger in -- and cried: "Thou fool, rot here,
Who takest love for lust," and soar'd up sheer,
Leaving his life-blood blackening from his breast.



Home: PoetryExplorer.net