Poem by Arthur William Symons

The Pale Woman

I spoke to the pale and heavy-lidded woman, and said:
O pale and heavy-lidded woman, why is your check
Pale as the dead, and what are your eyes afraid lest they speak?
And the woman answered me: I am pale as the dead,
For the dead have loved me, and I dream of the dead.
But I see in the eyes of the living, as a living fire,
The thing that my soul in triumph tells me I have forgot;
And therefore mine eyelids are heavy, and I raise them not,
For always I see in the eyes of men the old desire,
And I fear left they see that I desire their desire.

1. Divisions on a Ground
2. Mater Liliarum
3. The Andante of Snakes
4. Sponsa Dei
5. To Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows

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