Oracles

24 IN A LESBIAN MEADOW Delicate lips and chaste, Sweetness divine to taste While the sun glows ; There in the dusk to dwell By the sweet water-well In the wood’s deepest dell Where—my love knows. III Skies are grown redder far ; Tempest draws nigher ; Dark lowers a single star ; Mars, like the fire ! Fiercer our lips engage ; Limbs, eyes, ears gather rage ; Sharp grows desire. Hear thy short bitter cries ? Pity thine agonies ? Loose, though love tire ? Nay, neither hear nor spare ; Frenzy shall mock at prayer ; Torture’s red torch shall flare Till thou expire. IV Stars stud a cloudless sky ; Moon silvers blue ; Breeze is content to die ; Lightly falls dew.