I love you for the grief that lurks within    Your languid spirit, and because you wear    Corruption with a vague and childish air,    And with your beauty know the depths of sin;    Because shame cuts you and holds you like a gin,    And virtue dies in you slain by despair,    Since evil has you tangled in its snare    And triumphs on the soul good cannot win.    I love you since you know remorse and tears,    And in your troubled loveliness appears    The spot of ancient crimes that writhe and hiss       I love you for your hands that calm and bless,    The perfume of your sad and slow caress,    The avid poison of your subtle kiss.