Absinthia Taetra

Green changed to white, emerald to opal: nothing was changed
The man let the water trickle gently into his glass, and as the green clouded, a mist fell from his mind
Then he drank opaline

Memories and terrors beset him, the past tore after him like a panther
And through the blackness of the present he saw the luminous tiger eyes of the things to be
But he drank opaline

And that obscure night of the soul, and the valley of humiliation, through which he stumbled, were forgotten
He saw blue vistas of undiscovered countries, high prospects and a quiet, caressing sea
The past shed its perfume over him to-day held his hand as if it were a little child
And to-morrow shone like a white star; nothing was changed
He drank opaline

The man had known the obscure night of the soul, and lay even now in the valley of humiliation;
And the tiger menace of the things to be was red in the skies, ut for a little while he had forgotten
Green changed to white, emerald to opal;
Nothing was changed