There was a night
I could bear my cross
That still burns
Like a fiery torch
And its glow
Casts a purple spell
On my soul
There was a night!
I could have fallen
As another Adam
Into grand sin
To taste the forbidden
To kiss every Helen
To find the hidden
And discover for myself
The pangs of my fall
Into pits of passion.
But I wavered
I trembled
A timid dewdrop
On the point of a thorn,
I dared not jump off
The razor's edge
I stood bleeding
On the last ledge
Of my desperate soul.
I wish I had embraced
The storm in my veins
And fallen in the fires
That lit my being
And emerged triumphant
From the purgatory
Of my blazing passion
In my own fashion
A redeemed Faustus
Carrying my own cross
Not the stigma on my soul
And trod new paths
Of truth and beauty
From my own conviction;
There was a night
I could bear my cross
It would never be again.

Published - ©
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