The Star in the West

24 THE STAR IN THE WEST And then –O sudden ardour !-all her mind And memory faded , and looked outward , blind, Beyond their bitterness. Her arms she flung Around him , and with amorous lips and tongue Tortured his palate with extreme desire , And like a Mænad maddened ; equal fire Leapt in his veins ; locked close for love they lie , The heart's dumb word exprest without a sigh In the strong magic of a lover's kiss .' These superb lines , like those of Swinburne , are in reality a series of brilliant lyrical illustrations depict ing the story in measures of divine song . More we find in this same poem , and in others also ; the follow ing fine sonnet entitled “ The Summit of the Amorous Mountain ," is distinctly Swinburnian ; I give it in its entirety : To love you , Love , is all my happiness ; To kill you with my kisses ; to devour Your whole ripe beauty in the perfect hour That mingles us in one supreme caress ; To drink the purple of your thighs ; to press Your beating bosom like a living flower ; To die in your embraces , in the shower That dews like death your swooning loveliness . To know you love me ; that your body leaps With the quick passion of your soul ; to know Your fragrant kisses sting my spirit so ; To be one soul where Satan smiles and sleeps ; Ah ! in the very triumph - hour of Hell Satan himself remembers whence he fell ! ? Again , such lines as these from the “ Triumph of Man " : And all the earth is blasted ; the green sward Burns where it touches , and the barren sod 1 The Tale of Archais , vol . I, p . 11 . ? The Temple of the Holy Ghost , vol . i, p . 181 .