It ended, and the morrow brought the task. <br />Her eyes were guilty gates, that let him in <br />By shutting all too zealous for their sin: <br />Each sucked a secret, and each wore a mask. <br />But, oh, the bitter taste her beauty had! <br />He sickened as at breath of poison-flowers: <br />A languid humour stole among the hours, <br />And if their smiles encountered, he went mad, <br />And raged deep inward, till the light was brown <br />Before his vision, and the world, forgot, <br />Looked wicked as some old dull murder-spot. <br />A star with lurid beams, she seemed to crown <br />The pit of infamy: and then again <br />He fainted on his vengefulness, and strove <br />To ape the magnanimity of love, <br />And smote himself, a shuddering heap of pain.<br /><br />George Meredith<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/modern-love-ii-it-ended-and-the-morrow/
