ABSINTHE
I have prayed to the Christ of the merciful eyes,I have prayed to the Lord of Hosts,I have prayed, but in vain, for God to riseAnd scatter these murderous ghosts,These horrible, beckoning ghosts that signAnd beckon me where? ah, where?O little green god in your crystal shrine,You only will heed my prayer!The breath of your mouth is a powerful windThat whirls sorrow-shadows away;The light of your eyes burns the bonds that bind,I escape from the earth’s fell sway.The pallid figures in threatening line,They falter and tremble and flee.O little green god in your crystal shrine,Shed some of your glory on me!I have given you service, sincere and prolonged,I have given you love—ah, you know!Though I pray in a fane by your worshippers thronged,There is no one who worships you so.My hand and my heart and my brain, ah, divineLord, master of living, I give,O little green god in your crystal shrine,Take these—and then bid me to live!By a green marble house in a garden of green,Green roses bloom ’neath a green sun,Where the maidens have eyes of an emerald sheen,And the strife and the labor are done,O there let me dwell, where the ravenous whineOf the earth ghosts is soundless and dead.O little green god in your crystal shrine,Your heavenly dream-shower shed!
I have prayed to the Christ of the merciful eyes,I have prayed to the Lord of Hosts,I have prayed, but in vain, for God to riseAnd scatter these murderous ghosts,These horrible, beckoning ghosts that signAnd beckon me where? ah, where?O little green god in your crystal shrine,You only will heed my prayer!The breath of your mouth is a powerful windThat whirls sorrow-shadows away;The light of your eyes burns the bonds that bind,I escape from the earth’s fell sway.The pallid figures in threatening line,They falter and tremble and flee.O little green god in your crystal shrine,Shed some of your glory on me!I have given you service, sincere and prolonged,I have given you love—ah, you know!Though I pray in a fane by your worshippers thronged,There is no one who worships you so.My hand and my heart and my brain, ah, divineLord, master of living, I give,O little green god in your crystal shrine,Take these—and then bid me to live!By a green marble house in a garden of green,Green roses bloom ’neath a green sun,Where the maidens have eyes of an emerald sheen,And the strife and the labor are done,O there let me dwell, where the ravenous whineOf the earth ghosts is soundless and dead.O little green god in your crystal shrine,Your heavenly dream-shower shed!
I have prayed to the Christ of the merciful eyes,I have prayed to the Lord of Hosts,I have prayed, but in vain, for God to riseAnd scatter these murderous ghosts,These horrible, beckoning ghosts that signAnd beckon me where? ah, where?O little green god in your crystal shrine,You only will heed my prayer!
I have prayed to the Christ of the merciful eyes,
I have prayed to the Lord of Hosts,
I have prayed, but in vain, for God to rise
And scatter these murderous ghosts,
These horrible, beckoning ghosts that sign
And beckon me where? ah, where?
O little green god in your crystal shrine,
You only will heed my prayer!
The breath of your mouth is a powerful windThat whirls sorrow-shadows away;The light of your eyes burns the bonds that bind,I escape from the earth’s fell sway.The pallid figures in threatening line,They falter and tremble and flee.O little green god in your crystal shrine,Shed some of your glory on me!
The breath of your mouth is a powerful wind
That whirls sorrow-shadows away;
The light of your eyes burns the bonds that bind,
I escape from the earth’s fell sway.
The pallid figures in threatening line,
They falter and tremble and flee.
O little green god in your crystal shrine,
Shed some of your glory on me!
I have given you service, sincere and prolonged,I have given you love—ah, you know!Though I pray in a fane by your worshippers thronged,There is no one who worships you so.My hand and my heart and my brain, ah, divineLord, master of living, I give,O little green god in your crystal shrine,Take these—and then bid me to live!
I have given you service, sincere and prolonged,
I have given you love—ah, you know!
Though I pray in a fane by your worshippers thronged,
There is no one who worships you so.
My hand and my heart and my brain, ah, divine
Lord, master of living, I give,
O little green god in your crystal shrine,
Take these—and then bid me to live!
By a green marble house in a garden of green,Green roses bloom ’neath a green sun,Where the maidens have eyes of an emerald sheen,And the strife and the labor are done,O there let me dwell, where the ravenous whineOf the earth ghosts is soundless and dead.O little green god in your crystal shrine,Your heavenly dream-shower shed!
By a green marble house in a garden of green,
Green roses bloom ’neath a green sun,
Where the maidens have eyes of an emerald sheen,
And the strife and the labor are done,
O there let me dwell, where the ravenous whine
Of the earth ghosts is soundless and dead.
O little green god in your crystal shrine,
Your heavenly dream-shower shed!