"The Vampire" (A Poem)

In 1897, the same year Bram Stoker published Dracula, English artist Philip Burne-Jones unveiled his salacious painting The Vampire, which depicts an undead seductress straddling the body of an unconscious man, at London's the New Gallery.[1] Interestingly, it was not the artwork's sexually charged imagery which prompted public backlash, but rumors the actress Mrs. Patrick Campbell, with whom Burne-Jones was believed to be having a torrid affair, had posed as the vixen which sparked scandal.[2] Despite the disgrace, the painting did motivate Burne-Jones' cousin, the famed author Rudyard Kipling, to compose a poem inspired by the work of art.[3]

A Fool there was and he made his prayer
(Even as you and I!)
To a rag and a bone and a hank of hair
(We called her the woman who did not care)
But the fool he called her his lady fair -
(Even as you and I!) 

Oh, the years we waste and the tears we waste
And the work of our head and hand,
Belong to the woman who did not know 
(And now we know that she never could know) 
And did not understand! 

A fool there was and his goods he spent
(Even as you and I!) 
Honour and faith and a sure intent 
(And it wasn't the least what the lady meant)
But a fool must follow his natural bent 
(Even as you and I!) 

Oh, the toil we lost and the spoil we lost 
And the excellent things we planned 
Belong to the woman who didn't know why 
(And now we know that she never knew why) 
And did not understand! 

The fool was stripped to his foolish hide
(Even as you and I!) 
Which she might have seen when she threw him aside - 
(But it isn't on record the lady tried) 
So some of him lived but the most of him died - 
(Even as you and I!) 

And it isn't the shame and it isn't the blame
That stings like a white-hot brand.
It's coming to know that she never knew why
(Seeing at last she could never know why)
And never could understand.[4]

Works Referenced

Kipling, Rudyard. The Vampire: A Poem. Washington: Woodward and Lothrop, 1898.

Skal, David. Hollywood Gothic: The Tangled Web of Dracula from Novel to Stage to Screen. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 1990.
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[1] Skal, 28-29.
[2] Skal, 28-29.
[3] Skal, 28-29.
[4] Kipling, 7-9.