O, life, why do you taunt me...

O, life, why do you taunt me...

With pearls of darkness,
The envy of the light of day,
Concubine of the crushing abyss.

With mansions of ease,
Seeming fortress of the astray,
Walls evened out with brazen bliss.

With streets paved with gold,
Where no pauper's hand is cupped;
Not one meal, no not one, is missed.

With unending light,
Of which all need for the sun fades,
Clarity, but falsity dismissed.

...and...

With rubies of rot,
Stark naked in the high of noon,
Afloat in the sway of the shallows.

With sickbed shanties,
Sanctuary of the buffoon,
Precursory to the gallows.

With alleys of dung,
Where vein inflamed scream for more,
Chained sustenance of the lonely.

With seasons of night,
Of which no hope, it seems, in store,
The stars singing songs of parody.

...yet, I believe.