There was a murkier tinge in London's air <br />As if the honest fog blushed black for shame. <br />Fools sang of sin, for other fools' acclaim, <br />And Milton's wreath was tossed to Baudelaire. <br />The flowers of evil blossomed everywhere, <br />But in their midst a radiant lily came <br />Candescent, pure, a cup of living flame, <br />Bloomed for a day, and left the earth more fair. <br /> <br />And was it Charles, thy 'fair and fatal King', <br />Who bade thee welcome to the lovely land? <br />Or did Lord David cease to harp and sing <br />To take in his thine emulative hand? <br />Or did Our Lady's smile shine forth, to bring <br />Her lyric Knight within her choir to stand?<br /><br />Alfred Joyce Kilmer<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/lionel-johnson/
