Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900.

By BayardTaylor

453 Song

DAUGHTER of Egypt, veil thine eyes!

I cannot bear their fire;

Nor will I touch with sacrifice

Those altars of desire.

For they are flames that shun the day,

And their unholy light

Is fed from natures gone astray

In passion and in night.

The stars of Beauty and of Sin,

They burn amid the dark,

Like beacons that to ruin win

The fascinated bark.

Then veil their glow, lest I forswear

The hopes thou canst not crown,

And in the black waves of thy hair

My struggling manhood drown!