Psyche

O sad and beautiful Being! thou pale Breath
     Of the Great King, White Lily of the lands
     Where the bright Amaranth for thy handmaid stands;
Pure effluence from the starry fields; life, death,
Delight and pain, and all man coveteth,
     Our shrinks from suffering; of the heavenly hands
     Thou loveliest in thy light; in thy eclipse
A darkened wanderer saddest of the fallen!
     How pale thy blue eyes, and thy rosy lips
Bereaved of Love’s warm kisses; how are swollen
     Those tender foot-palms in thy long rough way,
A Soul of Man, widowed and gone astray!
     God sped thy brighter nuptials, when new Love
To thy white arms shall come from his pure home above!