I stooped from star-bright regions, where <br />Thou canst not enter even in prayer; <br />And thought to light thy heart and hearth <br />With all the poesy of earth. <br /> <br />Oh, foolish hope! those mystic gleams <br />To thee were unsubstantial dreams; <br />The paltry world had made thee blind, <br />And shut thy heart and dulled thy mind. <br /> <br />I was a vassal at thy feet, <br />And cringed more meanly than was meet, <br />And since I dared not to be free, <br />Was scouted as a slave should be. <br /> <br />I gave thee all -- my truth, my trust -- <br />I bowed my spirit in the dust, <br />I put a crown upon thy brow, <br />And am its proper victim now.<br /><br />Henry Timrod<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/lines-31/
