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Aspecta Medusa (For A Drawing)

Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Andromeda, by Perseus sav’d and wed,
Hanker’d each day to see the Gorgon’s head:
Till o’er a fount he held it, bade her lean,
And mirror’d in the wave was safely seen
That death she liv’d by.

                                        Let not thine eyes know
Any forbidden thing itself, although
It once should save as well as kill: but be
Its shadow upon life enough for thee.
Online text © 1998-2008 Poetry X. All rights reserved.
From Poems | 1881
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