82 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
AU BAL 
 
A VISION of flushed faces, shining limbs, 
 The Madness of the music that entrances 
 All life in its delirium of dances !   
The white world glitters in the void, and swims 
 Through infinite seas of transcendental trances. 
 Yea !  all the hoarded seed of all my fancies 
Bursts in a shower of suns !  The wine-cup brims 
And bubbles over ;  I drink deep the hymns 
 Of sorceries, of spells, of necromancies 
And all my spirit shudders ;  dew bedims 
 My sight—these girls and their alluring glances !   
 Their eyes that burn like dawn’s lascivious lances 
Waking all earth to love—to love !  Life skims 
 The cream of joy.  If God could see what man sees, 
 (Intoxicating Nellies, Mauds, and Nances !) 
 I see Him leave the sapphirine expanses, 
The choir serene and the celestial air 
To swoon into their sacramental hair !