Madison Julius Cawein

Art

   A Phantasy

I know not how I found you
 With your wild hair a-blow,
Nor why the world around you
 Would never let me know:
Perhaps 't was Heaven relented,
Perhaps 't was Hell resented
My dream, and grimly vented
 Its hate upon me so.

In Shadowland I met you
 Where all dim shadows meet;
Within my heart I set you,
 A phantom bitter-sweet:
No hope for me to win you,
Though I with soul and sinew
Strive on and on, when in you
 There is no heart or heat!

Yet ever, aye, and ever,
 Although I knew you lied,
I followed on, but never
 Would your white form abide:
With loving arms stretched meward,
As Sirens beckon seaward
To some fair vessel leeward,
 Before me you would glide.

But like an evil fairy,
 That mocks one with a light,
Now near, you led your airy,
 Now far, your fitful flight:
With red-gold tresses blowing,
And eyes of sapphire glowing,
With limbs like marble showing,
 You lured me through the night.

To some unearthly revel
 Of mimes, a motley crew,
'Twixt Angel-land and Devil,
 You lured me on, I knew,
And lure me still! soft whiling
The way with hopes beguiling,
While dark Despair sits smiling
 Behind the eyes of you!