JOY'S TREACHERY <br />I had a live joy once and pampered her, <br />For I had brought her from the ``golden East,'' <br />To lie when nights were cold upon my breast <br />And sit beside me the long days and purr, <br />Until her whole soul should be lapped in fur, <br />Deep as her claws; a beautiful sleek beast, <br />Which I might love.--But, when I deemed it least, <br />Her topaz eyes were on my stomacher, <br />Athirst for blood. Thus, for I loathed her since <br />I learned her guile, one night I had her slain <br />And thrown upon a dunghill to the flies, <br />Who bred in her fair limbs a pestilence, <br />Whereof I sickened.--Thus it ever is: <br />Dead joys unburied breed us death and pain.<br /><br />Wilfrid Scawen Blunt<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-love-sonnets-of-proteus-part-i-to-manon-xvii/
