Ay! they shall feel I live.
Their loss was naught.
The serpent’s tooth was nearer to my heart
That tortured me to madness. I had loved;
Thou knowest it. Call it love—idolatry!
For it was my religion. All but that—
Power, wealth and friends—I could have lost,
Hadst thou but trustfully still kept thy vow,
Calming the raging fever of my brain!
Well! when these painted lizards crawled aside,