Ambergris

AMBERGRIS 15 FROM MYSTERIES De Profundis Blood, mist, and foam, then darkness. On my eyes Sits heaviness, the poor worn body lies Devoid of nerve and muscle ; it were death Save for the heart that throbs, the breast that sighs. The brain reels drowsily, the mind is dulled, Deadened and drowned by noises that are lulled By the harsh poison of the hateful breath. All sense and sound and seeing is annulled. Within a body dead a deadened brain Beats with the burden of a shameful pain, The sullen agony that dares to think, And think through sleep, and wake to think again. Fools ! bitter fools ! Our breaths and kisses seem Constrained in devilry, debauch, and dream : Lives logged in the morass of meat and drink, Loves dipped in Phlegethon, the perjured stream. Behold we would that hours and minutes pass, Watch the sands falling in the eager glass ; To wile their weariness is pleasure’s bliss ; But ah ! the years ! like smoke They fade, alas ! We weep them as they slip away ; we gaze Back on the likeness of the former days— The hair we fondle and the lips we kiss— Roses grow yellow, and no purple stays. Ah ! the old years ! Come back, ye vanished hours We wasted ; come, grow red, ye faded flowers !