The Hill of Venus

THE HILL OF VENUS
BY NATHAN GALLIZIER
AUTHOR OF Castel del Monte, The Sorceress of Rome, and The Court of Lucifer
PICTURES BY E. H. GARRETT
DECORATIONS BY P. VERBURG
L. G. PAGE & COMPANY BOSTON MDCCCCXIII
Copyright, 1913 By L. C. Page & Company (INCORPORATED) All rights reserved
First Impression, March, 1913
THE COLONIAL PRESS C. H. SIMONDS & CO., BOSTON, U. S. A.
Thou art all shrouded, in a gauzy veil, Sombrous and cloudlike, all except that face Of subtle loveliness, though weirdly pale. Thy soft, slow-gliding footsteps leave no trace And stir no sound. Thy drooping hands infold Their frail white fingers, and unconscious hold A poppy-wreath: thine anodyne of grace.
Thy hair is like a twilight round thy head, Thine eyes are shadowed wells from Lethe-stream, With drowsy, subterranean waters fed; Obscurely deep without a stir or gleam. The gazer drinks in from them with his gaze An opiate charm, to curtain all his days, A passive languor of oblivious dream.
— JAMES THOMSON.