How came the carnal lie
From out the cavernous home of perfidy.
To weave its woeful cobweb o'er the sky?
From what foul haunt of infamy and shame
Think ye the fleshly load of horror came.
To make men's misery, and to mar their fame?
From out the void of night.
Casting a curtain o'er the quivering light
It came — till all forgotten was man's fair birthright.
But doth not heaven exclaim and wisdom cry.
"Why seek ye whence it came, or when, or why?
Try ye to trace the lineage of a lie?"
Born of a baseless dream.
A vaporous elf upon the pale moonbeam.
Would ye make real the mist-wraith of the stream?
The leaves are sere, the rose ephemeral fails.
Earth's pageantry departs, her splendor pales.
But Truth's harmonious harp new rhythm exhales.
