| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900. |
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| 453. Song |
| | | By Bayard Taylor |
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| 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, | 5 |
| And their unholy light | |
| Is fed from natures gone astray | |
| In passion and in night. | |
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| The stars of Beauty and of Sin, | |
| They burn amid the dark, | 10 |
| 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 | 15 |
| My struggling manhood drown! | |
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