Another London with its Tower
Another Thames and other hills
And another pleasant Surrey bower
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
The speaker is now filled with fire and passion that breaks the crystal cabinet, symbolically breaking the maiden’s hold on him, setting him free back into the wild.
The Crystal Cabinet