Collected Works (Vol. II)

THE CANNIBALS Il Of measured pulses quickened with the blood Of that desire which pours its deadly flood Through soul and shaken body; scarce a thought, But sense through spirit most divinely wrought To perfect feeling ; only through the lips Electric ardour kindles, flashes, slips Through all the circle to her lips again, And thence, unwavering, flies to mine, to drain All pleasure in one draught. sigh ; No change of breast; love’s posture perfectly Once gained, we change no more. The fever grows Hotter or cooler, as the night wind blows Fresh gusts of passion on the outer gate. But we, in waves of frenzy, concentrate Our thirsty mouths on that hot drinking cup, Whence we may never suck the nectar up Too often or too hard ; fresh fire invades Our furious veins, and the unquiet shades Of night make noises in the darkened room. Yet, did I raise my head, throughout the gloom I might behold thine eyes as red as fire A tigress maddened with supreme desire ; White arms that clasp me; fervent breast that glides An eager snake, about my breast and sides ; Teeth keen to bite, red tongue that never tires, And lips ensanguine with unfed desires, A very beast of prey; hot hands caress, And violent breath that surfeits not excess. But raise no head! I know thee, breast and thigh, Lips, hair, and eyes, and mouth: I will not die But thou come with me o’er the gate of death. So, blood and body furious with breath That pants through foaming kisses, let us stay Gripped hard together to kiss life away, Mouths drowned in murder, never satiate, Kissing away the hard decrees of Fate, Kissing insatiable in.mad desire, Kisses whose agony may never tire, Kissing the gates of hell, the sword of God, Each unto each a serpent or a rod, No whispered Thick sweet salt tears, till, A well of wine and fire, each unto each, Whose lips are fain convulsively to reach A higher heaven, a deeper hell. Ah! day So soon to dawn, delight to snatch away ! Damned day, whose sunlight finds us as with wine Drunken, with lust made manifest divine Devils of darkness, servants unto hell— Yea, king and queen of Sheol, terrible Above all fiends and furies, hating more The high Jehovah, loving Baal Peor, Our father and our lover and our god ! © Yea, though he lift his adamantine rod __ And pierce us through, how shall his anger tame ~ Fire that glows fiercer for the brand of shame Thrust in it ; so, we who are all of fire, One dull red flare of devilish desire, The God of Israel shall not quench with tears, Nor blood of martyrs drawn from myriad spheres, Nor watery blood of Christ ; that blood shall boil With all the fury of our hellish toil ; ‘His veins shall dry with heat; his bones shall bleach Cold and detested, picked of dogs, on each Dry separate dunghill of burnt Golgotha. But we will wrest from heaven a little star, The Star of Bethlehem, a lying light Fit for our candle, and by devils’ might 'Fix in the vast concave of hell for us To lume its ghastly shadows murderous, That in the mirror of the lake of fire We may behold the image of Desire Stretching broad wings upon us, and may leap Each upon other, till our bodies weep perfected of shames, - They burn to one another as the flames Of our hell fuse us into one wild soul: ~ Then, one immaculate divinest whole, Plunge, fire, within all fire, dive far to death ; Till, like king Satan’s sympathetic breath, Burn on us as a voicé from far above Strange nameless elements of fire and love ; And we, one mouth to kiss; one soul to.lure, For ever wedded, one, divine, endure