ew,
And scarce she needed other charm to hold,
Than did the vesture sideward drawn reveal
Of beauty lying in a tranquil sleep
Upon a pillow of the sweetest form.
And she was proud of graces like to these;
And sadly well she did her beauty know.
Forth from the ranks of town and city came
A host of pert admirers, to gaze
Upon her sweet and all-bewitching charms,
And cull a little frolic from her hand.
And she was free and open unto all,
And held to each full gaiety and wit,
And on her manner kept no check at all,
And strove to seem more pleasing every hour,
And loved the admiration which they gave.
Time stood, and from his hand the hours, and days,
Anon, and years dealt listlessly away;
And one by one her charms were seen to go;
For every year, as it sped on its course,
Plucked from the flower of purity a leaf,
And from her beauty took the brightest gem,
Until all virtue had been torn away,
And beauty shorn of every single germ.
Thus was her ruin sealed, and day by day
She sank into more hopeless depths of sin,
And was more hardened unto evil ways.
Her form grew haggard and uncouth to see,
And in her eye a dark defiance frowned.
Her soul turned black unto its very core,
And was polluted as a mountain stream
Drugged with the fluid from a bloody war.
Her brow was stamped with hatred and revenge.
Woe and distraction, from these loathsome fonts,
Fierce as hell-torrents, burst upon her path;
And she did spurn repentance. And I saw
The Evil One from depths of darkness come;
And in her way he set a fearful pit,
And death appeared the entrance thereunto.
Then it was opened wider in her way;
I heard an awful shriek, and, lo! beheld
That she was swallowed in its boundless depths.
Thus was the act concluded, and again
The curtain fell upon the stage of life;
And all who saw it trembled at the scene,
And deathlike was the calm which stood around,
And every breath was held for very fear.
Then the same voice was heard again which spoke
Such words of wisdom in the former scene.
And now the curtain was again withdrawn,
And every form had vanished from the view,
Save he who spake and hoary-headed Time;
And Time still stood and dealt the hours away.
And over all a mighty change had come;
Old things had gone, and others held their place;
And he who was the speaker stood upright,
And was adorned with raiment pure and white.
He stood surrounded by a dazzling light;
More bright his presence was than go