Roses and waxen oleanders,

Green grape bunches and the flushed peach,—

All beautiful things I taste, touch, see,

Knowing, loving, becoming each.

The ship went down, my mother swam:

I wedded and myself was wed;

Old Claudius died of emperor-bane:

Old Seneca too slowly bled.

The wild beast and the victim both,

The ravisher and the wincing bride;