Main Street, and Other Poems

<h2> Lionel Johnson </h2> <h3> (For the Rev. John J. Burke, C. S. P.) </h3> <p>There was a murkier tinge in London's air<br/> As if the honest fog blushed black for shame.<br/> Fools sang of sin, for other fools' acclaim,<br/> And Milton's wreath was tossed to Baudelaire.<br/> The flowers of evil blossomed everywhere,<br/> But in their midst a radiant lily came<br/> Candescent, pure, a cup of living flame,<br/> Bloomed for a day, and left the earth more fair.<br/> <br/> And was it Charles, thy "fair and fatal King",<br/> Who bade thee welcome to the lovely land?<br/> Or did Lord David cease to harp and sing<br/> To take in his thine emulative hand?<br/> Or did Our Lady's smile shine forth, to bring<br/> Her lyric Knight within her choir to stand?<br/></p> <p><SPAN name="link2H_4_0011" id="link2H_4_0011"></SPAN></p> <br/> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />