DAUGHTER of Egypt, veil thine eyes! <br />I cannot bear their fire; <br />Nor will I touch with sacrifice <br />Those altars of desire. <br />For they are flames that shun the day, <br />And their unholy light <br />Is fed from natures gone astray <br />In passion and in night. <br /> <br />The stars of Beauty and of Sin, <br />They burn amid the dark, <br />Like beacons that to ruin win <br />The fascinated bark. <br />Then veil their glow, lest I forswear <br />The hopes thou canst not crown, <br />And in the black waves of thy hair <br />My struggling manhood drown!<br /><br />James Bayard Taylor<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/song-169/
