Have you known such savory grief as I?
Do people say "Strange fellow !" whom you meet?
--my amorous soul, when I was due to die,
Felt longing mixed with horror; pain seemed sweet.

Anguish and ardent hope (no factious whim)
Were mixed : and as the sands of life ran low
My torture grew delicious yet more grim;
And of this world my heart was letting go.

I seemed a child, so keen to see the Show
He feels a deadly hatred of the Curtain . . .
And then I saw the hard, cold truth for certain :

I felt that dreadful dawn around me grow
With no surprise or vestige of a thrill.
The curtain rose -- and I stayed waiting still.