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Home  »  Poetry: A Magazine of Verse  »  Leyland Huckfield

Harriet Monroe, ed. (1860–1936). The New Poetry: An Anthology. 1917.

The Muse in Church

Leyland Huckfield

THE GATES of brass are closed

That guard the ivory altar;

The great arched rafters frown on thee

Who art the harlot’s daughter.

With lips like a carmine rose,

With robes like orchids rare,

With breath like spices delicate

That languorous pagans bear;

With thy petal cheeks aglowing,

And with thy white knees showing,

And shy, soft eyes that falter—

Go hence, enticing demon child,

Thou hast not beads nor psalter.