THE WILD ASS
Verily and Amen! Unhewn
The great grim forest menaces.
What gardener may dare to prune
Those woods to build me palaces?
So climb, each ledge an infinite stress,
Lustful as light, as lechery loth,
From the brutality of Besz
To the plumed perjury of Thoth!
I held him holy. Holier both
Than aught the bearers of the bier,
Thoum-aesh-neith and Auramoth,
Saw in the hiding-house of fear.
The sorceries that span the sphere,
The spells that harness star and sun,
I whispered in his siren ear—
Once, twice, and thrice for every one!
Once, twice, and thrice—the boon’s begun !
With four and five and six it stirs :
With seven the druid dance is done,
And Death drives home his silver spurs!
Then—the last leap. What crowning curse
Can bid that cup of curses brim?
How may God’s maniac ministers
Lash the last languor out of Him?
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