Poem by Christina Georgina Rossetti

The World

By day she woos me, soft, exceeding fair:
But all night as the moon so changeth she;
Loathsome and foul with hideous leprosy
And subtle serpents gliding in her hair.
By day she woos me to the outer air,
Ripe fruits, sweet flowers, and full satiety:
But through the night, a beast she grins at me,
A very monster void of love and prayer.
By day she stands a lie: by night she stands
In all the naked horror of the truth
With pushing horns and clawed and clutching hands.
Is this a friend indeed; that I should sell
My soul to her, give her my life and youth,
Till my feet, cloven too, take hold on hell? 

1. Three Little Children
2. A Testimony
3. Herself A Rose Who Bore The Rose
4. Maiden May
5. I Caught a Little Ladybird

Katherine Philips The World ("Wee falsely think it due unto our friends")

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