Another Maiden like herself,
Translucent, lovely, shining clear
Threefold each in the other clos'd
O, what a pleasant trembling fear!
O, what a smile! a threefold smile
Fill'd me, that like a flame I burn'd
I bent to kiss the lovely Maid
And found a threefold kiss return'd
I strove to seize the inmost form
With ardor fierce and hands of flame
But burst the Crystal Cabinet
And like a weeping Babe became
A weeping Babe upon the wild
And weeping Woman pale reclin'd
And in the outward air again
I fill'd with woes the passing wind
The weeping Babe is likely either a post-coital tristesse or a literal infant, and the weeping woman a devirginized partner or a maternally dead maiden, respectively.
The Crystal Cabinet