The Pale Woman

I spoke to the pale and heavy-lidded woman, and said: O pale and heavy-lidded woman, why is your cheek Pale as the dead, and what are your eyes afraid lest they speak? And the woman answered me: I am pale as the dead, For the dead have loved me, and I dream of the dead. But I see in the eyes of the living, as a living fire, The thing that my soul in triumph tells me I have forgot; And therefore mine eyelids are heavy, and I raise them not, For always I see in the eyes of men the old desire, And I fear lest they see that I desire their desire.