Three Pictures

I have seen many things in many lands,

And many sorrows known and many joys,

And clutched at pleasure's cup with lawless hands,

And drunk my fill of mirth and lust and noise,

Nor spared to make of human hearts my toys,

But fed with life the brute strength of my pride,

As with a tribute of fair living boys

The monstrous lord of Crete him satisfied.

--But of all pictures laid up in my soul

Are three most beautiful and passionate,

The illumined margin of an ancient scroll,

Which moraliseth pity, love and hate;

And these, when she is sad, she doth unroll

And on their common meaning meditate.