Thomas Bailey Aldrich - Andromeda lyrics

The smooth-worn coin and threadbare cla**ic phrase Of Grecian myths that did beguile my youth, Beguile me not as in the olden days: I think more grief and beauty dwell with truth. Andromeda, in fetters by the sea, Star-pale with anguish till young Perseus came, Less moves me with her suffering than she, The slim girl figure fettered to dark shame, That nightly haunts the park, there, like a shade, Trailing her wretchedness from street to street. See where she pa**es—neither wife nor maid. How all mere fiction crumbles at her feet! Here is woe's self, and not the mask of woe: A legend's shadow shall not move you so!