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…ut her marriage cup, For holy water her cruel tongue ; For blessing of white hands raised up, These perfumed infamies unsung ; For God’s breath, her sharp tainted breath ; For marriage bed, the bed of death. The hounds that scavenge, fierce and lean, Snarl in the moonlight ; in the sky
…mystical, And whispers wiser than the sea : O lover, come to me ! The pall Of night is woven : fair and free, Draw to my kisses, let thy breath Mingle for love the wine of death.
FAME. IF these words were swords, and I had might From some old prophet in whose tawny hair The very breath of the Jehovah were To smite the Syrian, and to smite, and smite, And splash the sun’s face with the blood, for spite Of his downgoing, till I had made fair All glories of my master, I could bear To sink myself in the abundant night. O if these words were lightnings, and their flame Deluged the world, and drowned the seed of shame In these ill waters where alone Truth’s ark May float, where only lovers may embark, I were contented to aban…
…int to Death : Thy shadow strides across the starry air ; Thou comest as a serpent unaware, Striking love’s heart and crushing out man’s breath : Thy destiny is even as God saith To mark the impotence of human prayer, Choke hope, sting all but Love ; and never care If man or flower or sparrow perisheth. Thee, I invoke thee, though no mercy move Thy heart ! No power is to thy hate assigned On love (sing, poets ! shrill, Pandean reeds !). But me, look on me, how my bosom bleeds— Invoke new power of cruelty ; be kind, And ask authority to quench m…
… slay ; And all my face parched up and dried, And all my body crucified. Ofttimes the Spirit of the Lord Descends and floods me with his breath ; My words are fashioned as a sword, My voice is like the voice of death. The thunder of the Spirit’s wings Brings terror to the hearts of kings. A
…es deep The mysteries of its magic power, The secrets of forgotten sleep, The birth of knowledge as a flower. Slow and divine thy gentle breath Woos my warm throat : my spirit flies Beyond the iron walls of death, And seeks strange portals, pale and wise. My lips are fervent, as in prayer, Thy lips are parted, as to kiss : My hand is clenched upon the air, Thy hand’s soft touch, how sweet it is ! M
… and sounds ! Wild and sonorous the clamour, vast in the region of death, Live with the Fire of the Spirit, the essence and flame of the breath ! Sound, O sound ! Gleam in the world of the dark, where the chained ones shall tremble and flee ! Gleam in the skies of the dusk, for the Light of the Dawn is in me ! Light on the forehead, and life in the nostrils, and love in the breast, Shine, O thou Star of the Dawning, thou Sun of the Radiant Crest ! Shine, O shine ! Flame through the sky in the strength of the chariot- wheels of the Sun ! R
… We linger and laugh on the lea, The light of my spirit with me, Sharp limbs in close agony curled. The noise of the music of sleep, The breath of the wings of the night, The song of the magical deep, The sighs of the spirits that weep, Make murmur to tune our delight. Slow feet are our measures that move ; Swift songs are more soft than the breeze ; Our mouths are made mute for our love ; Our eyes are made soft as the dove ; We mingle and move as the seas. The light of the passionate dawn That kissed us, and would not awaken, Grew golden and b…
… find in fervent dreams the kiss Most memoried of Artemis. Impenetrable pleasure dies Beneath the madness of new dreams ; The slow sweet breath is turned to sighs More musical than many streams Under the moving silver beams,
… church and thee ! ” The third face spake and said : “ Welcome, O Man, to Death ! Thy little span of life is sped, Sighed out thy little breath. The worm that never dies is thine ; the fire that lingereth ! ” “ Three voices has thy frame, Their music is but one. Fool-demon, slave of night and shame, That canst not see the sun ! I am the Lord thy God : make thou homage and orison ! ” The wild heads sank in fear : Then, troubled, to those eyes Remembrance crept of many a year, Barred gates of Paradise. Again the Voice rolled in the deep, mingled …
…véd mouth, that beats and bleeds ! O mystic bosom where some serpent sleeps, Sweet mockery of a thousand saintlier creeds ! Even I, that breathe your perfume, taste your breath, Know, even this hour, ye are not life, but death ! No death ye bring more godlike than desire, When seas roar tempest-lashed, and foam is flung Raging on pitiless crags, and gloomy fire Lurks in the master-cloud ; corpses are swung Helpless and horrible in trough and crest— That death were music, and the lord of rest. No death ye bring as when the storm is rolled, An im…
…nts for excess of its own joys, And mystic beams assail the moon, With flames of their infernal noon ; While the smooth incense, without breath, Spreads like some scented flower of death, Over the grove ; the lover’s boon Of sleep shall steal upon them soon, And lovers’ lips, from lips withdrawn, Seek dimmer bosoms till the dawn. Yet on the central altar lies The sacrament of kneaded bread, With blood made one, the sacrifice To those, the living, who are dead— Strange gods and goddesses, that shed
…s ! My suffering is keen as theirs That in Amenti taste of death ; Not mine own pains create these prayers : For them I claim the living Breath. O Lord Osiris, bend and bring All winters to thy sign of Spring ! Poor folly mine : I cannot see Save from one corner of one star ! So many millions over me ; So many, and the next, how far !
… shame. From that day unto this My cheek desires that hideous kiss. Her hate, her scorn, her cruel blows, Fill my whole life, consume my breath ; Her red-fanged hatred in me glows ; I lust for her, and hell, and death ; I see that ghastly look, and yearn Toward the brands of her that burn. Sleep shuns me ; dreams divide the night (My parched throat thirsty for her veins), That she and I with deep delight Suck from death’s womb infernal pains, Whose fire consumes, destroys, devours Through night’s insatiable hours. And altogether filled with lov…
…star of morning rise and burn : I seek the dim supernal day ! Sleep there, nor know me gone : sleep there And never wake, although God’s breath Catch thee at midmost of the prayer Of sleep—that so dream turns to death.
14 THE SOUL OF OSIRIS. Only to me her eyelids sever And lips respire her equal breath ; Still in the unknown star I see The very god that is of me. The day’s pale countenance is lifted, The rude sun’s forehead he uncovers ; No soft delicious clouds have drifted, No wing of midnight’s bird that hovers ; Yet still the hard blind blue is rifted, And still my star and I as lovers Yearn to each other through the sky With eyes half closed in ecstasy. Night, Night, O mother Night, descend ! O daughter of the sleeping sea ! O dusk, O sister-spirit, len…
…l murmur of the sky ; All heaven and earth on me attend To prophesy the tyrant’s end. The gates are closed because of night, Whose heavy breath infects the air ; The dog-star gleams, a devilish light : I thought I saw behind me glare The eyes of fiends ; I thought I heard An evil laugh, a mocking word. The gates swing open at The Name, Without a warder roused from sleep ; I pass, with face of burning flame, That is not quenched, although I weep. (For even my tears are tears of fire, For loathing, madness, and desire.) Ah God ! the traps for fer…
… : the gate Of Hope clangs resonant : and starless Fate Glowers like a demon brooding over death. Monstrous and mute, the slow resurgent breath Spreads forth its poison : the pale child at play Coughs in his gutter ; the hard slave of day Groans once and dies : the sickly spouse can feel The cold touch kill the unborn child, and steal Up to her broken heart : the pale hours hang Like death upon the aged : the days clang Like prison portals on the folk of day. Yet for the children of the night they play Like fountains in the moonlight : for the …
…ide ? Who ? ” he said. Three eunuchs, passionless, grown tame, Grinned from behind her laughing head. “ Throw down that woman ! ” And my breath Caught as they flung her out to death. I think I died that moment. He, Foaming for vengeance and blood-lust, Laughed his coarse laugh of hideous glee. Her sweet bad body in the dust He trampled. Royal from the womb, A martyred murderess lacks a tomb ! A tigress woman, clad with sin, And shod with infamy, who pressed The bloody winepress of my skin, And plucked the purple of my breast— Her lovers in thei…
…as wrought its splendour through the gates of death. My courage did not falter : now I feel My heart beat wave-wise, and my throat catch breath As if I choked ; some horror creeps between The spirit of my will and its desire, Some just reluctance to the Great Unseen That coils its nameless terrors, and its dire Fear round my heart ; a devil cold as ice Breathes somewhere, for I feel his shudder take T