The Scented Garden

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 !