GLADSTONE was still respected, When John Ruskin produced “Kings’ Treasuries”; Swinburne And Rossetti still abused. Foetid Buchanan lifted up his voice When that faun’s head of hers Became a pastime for Painters and adulterers. The Burne-Jones cartons Have preserved her eyes; Still, at the Tate, they teach Cophetua to rhapsodize; Thin like brook-water, With a vacant gaze. The English Rubaiyat was still-born In those days. The thin, clear gaze, the same Still darts out faun-like from the half-ruin’d face, Questing and passive.... “Ah, poor Jenny’s case” ... Bewildered that a world Shows no surprise At her last maquero’s Adulteries. |