122 NECROPHILIA NECROPHILIA Void of the ecstasies of Art It were in life to have lain by thee, And felt thy kisses rain on me, And the hot beating of thy heart, When thy warm sweat should leave me cold, And my worn soul find out no bliss In the obscenities I kiss, And the things shameful that I hold. My nostrils sniff the luxury Of flesh decaying, bowels torn Of festive worms, like Venus, born Of entrails foaming like the sea. Yea, thou art dead. Thy buttocks now Are swan-soft, and thou sweatest not ; And hast a strange desire begot In me, to lick thy bloody brow ;