142 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
IN MEMORIAM 
 
E. R. et E. H. 
 
STRIP, dear !  Naked-pure you lie— 
 Surely we are done with dreams !   
Open to the world’s wide eye !   
 Let them know, sweet, how it seems 
(To a love like ours) to die !   
 
So, dear !  Virginal you were 
 When I touched your life with song ;   
Virgin now to death lie there !   
 You shall not await him long. 
(Fold your body in your hair !) 
 
Satan, hail !  our consecration !   
 Lilies, lilies :  let them swathe you, 
Robes baptismal of damnation !   
 Tuberose and iris bathe you 
In the sea, annihilation !   
 
All white flowers I build, a fane 
 Fit to shroud the sacrifice. 
I will kiss you once again 
Ere I pull the trigger twice. 
—Or our death were died in vain.