Goblin Market and Other Poems, The World

THE WORLD.

SONNET.

By day she woos me, soft, exceeding fair:
But all night as the moon so changeth she;
Loathsome and foul with hideous leprosy
And subtle serpents gliding in her hair.
By day she woos me to the outer air,
Ripe fruit, sweet flowers, and full satiety:
But through the night, a beast she grins at me,
A very monster void of love and prayer.
By day she stands a lie: by night she stands
In all the naked horror of the truth
With pushing horns and clawed and clutching hands.
Is this a friend indeed; that I should sell
My soul to her, give her my life and youth,
Till my feet, cloven too, take hold on hell?

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This page was imported from Wikisource. “Goblin Market and Other Poems” by Christina Georgina Rossetti (1862) is in the public domain; the text is as transcribed and proofread by Wikisource's volunteers.

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