Time is an abyss -
   Profound as a thousand nights;
   I sojourn my haste, I make respites
   For what availeth this eager peace?
   One step more naught to face,
   Save the heirloom fatal kiss.
   I rave no more 'gainst Time or Fate,
   For lo! my own shall ne'er come to me,
   Yet! - Who doth my future narrate?
   Dim the lights - I cannot see!
   Bring forth ye Shadow! -
   With whom danceth thou?
   Time hath stopp'd -
   Yet for others ne'er halteth;
   For me the Pages of Life do not turn,
   Lo! - on the funeral pyre they burn.
   The oh so eathing Velvet Darkness they fear -
   Heed! - wherefore delve a burrow,
   When in my arms "O! Come here"? -
   I say, elsehither is naught but sorrow!
   For what deemest thou so dear thy blood
   When through my veins it could flood? -
   Bide to merry-make me unaptly;
   And hence grant me the fell gift,
   The gift of passing on the dark trick.
   'Tis such a brazen act of erotic;
   Trifle for thee, yet for me grandly thrift,
   O! such an innocence depriv'd so hastily -
   Alas, for what deemest thou so dear thy blood
   When through my veins it will flood?