<h2><SPAN name="page50"></SPAN><span class="pagenum"></span>HELENA</h2>
<p class="poetry">Last night I saw Helena. She whose
praise<br/>
Of late all men have sounded. She for whom<br/>
Young Angus rashly sought a silent tomb<br/>
Rather than live without her all his days.</p>
<p class="poetry">Wise men go mad who look upon her long,<br/>
She is so ripe with dangers. Yet meanwhile<br/>
I find no fascination in her smile,<br/>
Although I make her theme of this poor song.</p>
<p class="poetry">“Her golden tresses?” yes, they may
be fair,<br/>
And yet to me each shining silken tress<br/>
Seems robbed of beauty and all lustreless—<br/>
Too many hands have stroked Helena’s hair.</p>
<p class="poetry">(I know a little maiden so demure<br/>
She will not let her one true lover’s hands<br/>
In playful fondness touch her soft brown bands<br/>
So dainty-minded is she, and so pure.)</p>
<p class="poetry"><SPAN name="page51"></SPAN><span class="pagenum">p.
51</span>“Her great dark eyes that flash like gems at
night?<br/>
Large, long-lashed eyes and lustrous?” that
may be,<br/>
And yet they are not beautiful to me.<br/>
Too many hearts have sunned in their delight.</p>
<p class="poetry">(I mind me of two tender blue eyes, hid<br/>
So underneath white curtains, and so veiled<br/>
That I have sometimes plead for hours, and failed<br/>
To see more than the shyly lifted lid.)</p>
<p class="poetry">“Her perfect mouth so liked a carved
kiss?”<br/>
“Her honeyed-mouth, where hearts do, fly-like,
drown?”<br/>
I would not taste its sweetness for a crown;<br/>
Too many lips have drank its nectared bliss.</p>
<p class="poetry">(I know a mouth whose virgin dew, undried,<br/>
Lies like a young grape’s bloom, untouched and
sweet,<br/>
And though I plead in passion at her feet,<br/>
She would not let me brush it if I died.)</p>
<p class="poetry">In vain, Helena! though wise men may vie<br/>
For thy rare smile, or die from loss of it,<br/>
Armoured by my sweet lady’s trust, I sit,<br/>
And know thou are not worth her faintest sigh.</p>
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