THE HARLOT OF THE WORLD
Reading edition
O Life, thou harlot who beguilest all! Beautiful in thy house, the gorgeous world, Abidest thou, where Powers pinion-furled And flying Splendours follow to thy call. Innumerous like the stars or like the dust, Nations and monarchs were thy thralls of yore: Unto the grave’s old womb forevermore Hast thou betrayed the passion and the lust. Fair as the moon of summer is thy face, And mystical with cloudiness of hair.*** Only an eye, subornless by delight, Shall find within thy phosphorescent gaze Those caverns of corruption and despair, Where the Worm toileth in the charnel night.