24 
IN A LESBIAN MEADOW 
 
Delicate lips and chaste, 
Sweetness divine to taste 
While the sun glows ; 
There in the dusk to dwell 
By the sweet water-well 
In the wood’s deepest dell 
Where—my love knows. 
 
III 
 
Skies are grown redder far ; 
Tempest draws nigher ; 
Dark lowers a single star ; 
Mars, like the fire ! 
Fiercer our lips engage ; 
Limbs, eyes, ears gather rage ; 
Sharp grows desire. 
Hear thy short bitter cries ? 
Pity thine agonies ? 
Loose, though love tire ? 
Nay, neither hear nor spare ; 
Frenzy shall mock at prayer ; 
Torture’s red torch shall flare 
Till thou expire. 
 
IV 
 
Stars stud a cloudless sky ; 
Moon silvers blue ; 
Breeze is content to die ; 
Lightly falls dew.