Erotica/'Twixt Ivory Pales
< Erotica
'Twixt Ivory Pales
RONDEAU
'Twixt ivory pales uprose a precious dome,
A shrine thatched over where no man might come,
For vestals only could the entrance win
To worship her who sat enthroned therein—
A Goddess fresh begotten of the foam.
Until one day I that way chanced to roam,
Half open stood the gateway in the gloom,
Revealing splendours of the shrine within
'Twixt ivory pales.
Marshalling my forces without beat of drum,
The next dark night when Nature' face was dumb,
I forced the ward and swiftly entered in
Regardless of the sacrilege and sin.
The shrine was mine—and now I call it home
'Twixt ivory pales.