| I AM the torch, she saith, and what to me | |
| If the moth die of me? I am the flame | |
| Of Beauty, and I burn that all may see | |
| Beauty, and I have neither joy nor shame, | |
| But live with that clear light of perfect fire | 5 |
| Which is to men the death of their desire. | |
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| I am Yseult and Helen, I have seen | |
| Troy burn, and the most loving knight lie dead. | |
| The world has been my mirror, time has been | |
| My breath upon the glass; and men have said, | 10 |
| Age after age, in rapture and despair, | |
| Love's poor few words, before my image there. | |
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| I live, and am immortal; in my eyes | |
| The sorrow of the world, and on my lips | |
| The joy of life, mingle to make me wise; | 15 |
| Yet now the day is darkened with eclipse: | |
| Who is there still lives for beauty? Still am I | |
| The torch, but where's the moth that still dares die? | |