Xxviii Sonnet

In undulant robes with nacreous sheen impearled She walks as in some stately saraband; Or like lithe snakes by sacred charmers curled In cadence wreathing on the slender wand.

Calm as blue wastes of sky and desert sand That watch unmoved the sorrows of this world; With slow regardless sweep as on the strand The long swell of the woven sea-waves swirled.

Her polished orbs are like a mystic gem, And, while this strange and symbolled being links The inviolate angel and the antique sphinx,

Insphered in gold, steel, light and diadem The splendour of a lifeless star endows With clear cold majesty the barren spouse.