Ecstasy stronger than Death. 
103 
 
 
 
XXVII 
 
THE CAMEL RIDER1 
 
 
The camel-rider swoops across the desert, with his 
howling Jinn, 
To wreck and ravage human life ;  insufferable Be-
dawin !2 
 
But shall he ravish thee from me ?  I see the camel 
check and kneel, 
Vanquished by dread of the Unknown, appalled by 
fear of the Unseen ! 
 
To Death is Love inpregnable ;  to Love seems 
Death desirable, 
Fixing the lightning flash of life and making per-
mament the scene. 
 
The Zahid looks from Life to Death ;  The Sufi gath-
ers Death from Life ; 
Thy podex ’twixt thy buttocks lies, the Future and 
the Past between. 
 
The Sufi pierces, gains and holds the Present ;  can 
the present fade ? 
Never !  through all the seas of time fares on the 
prow erect and keen.3 
 
The keel a member fit to pierce the podices of 
ocean-lords, 
Clasped to thy gushing bosom-waves, o pearly 
amorous undine !