OH, her beauty was such that it dazzled my eyes Like a dreamer's, who, gazing in day-dying skies, Sees the snow of the clouds and the gold of the sun And the blue of the heavens all blended in one Indescribable luster of glorious light, Swooning into the moon of a mid-summer night. Oh, her beauty was such that I fancied her hair Was a cloud of the tempest, tied up with a glare Of pale purple lightning, that darted and ran Through the coils like the blood in the veins of a man: And from dark silken billows that girdled her free, Her shoulder welled up like the moon from the sea. Oh, her beauty was such, as I knelt, with the tips Of the fingers uplifted she snatched from my lips, And saw the white flood of her wrath as it dashed O'er the features, that one moment later had flashed From my vision forever, I raised not a knee Till I had thanked God for so rescuing me. |