96 
LILITH 
 
 
So in my dreams, escaping from a monster, I turn one 
corner ;  “ there is refuge—there ! ” 
Nay, there he lurked who never had pursued me . . . ’twas 
I who chased him to his proper holt. 
Then, O thou vile adorable, my lover, my master, catch 
me backward by the hair !   
Fasten thy fangs upon my mouth’s gasped anguish, and 
split my dream-clouds with thy thunderbolt !   
 
Though thou be God or Satan, do thou master my death-
pang with thy life-pang, and possess 
All that I am with all thou art, my Vampire, my Siren 
that I thought a nightingale !   
Abase me  !  Spit on me !  Scourge me !  Murder me !  
Take thy wolf’s meal of my loveliness !   
Give me the reek of thy foul breath, and show me the 
leper’s face behind the shining veil !   
 
Yea !  Though I sink through measureless abysses, I trace 
the incommensurable curve. 
Thy foursquare wedge that rages in my circle shall match 
it at the infinite period. 
Polluted body, violated spirit, corrupted soul, stunned brain 
and tortured nerve :— 
These merge into thy bloody maw, Echidna, that shall 
emerge the lone white flame of God.