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ODE TO VENUS CALLIPYGE 
 
ODE TO VENUS CALLIPGYE 
 
Where was light when thy body came 
Out of the womb of a perished prayer ? 
Where was life when the sultry air, 
Hot with the lust of night and shame, 
Brooded on dust, when thy shoulders bare 
Shone on the sea with a sudden flame 
Into all Time to abundant fame ? 
 
CHORUS 
 
Daughter of Lust by the foam of the sea ! 
Mother of flame !  Sister of shame ! 
Tiger that Sin nor her son cannot tame ! 
Worship to thee !  Glory to thee ! 
Venus Callipyge, mother of me. 
 
Fruitless foam of a sterile sea, 
Wanton waves of a vain desire, 
Maddening billows flecked with fire, 
Storms that lash on the brine, and flee, 
Dead delights, insatiate ire 
Broke like a flower to the birth of thee, 
Venus Callipgye, mother of me !