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Page 1 of 21898 · PDF PAGE 134
128 ² Åü¿Â That burnt my blood, and flung me in her arms, Whose filthy kisses and thrice loathly charms, Her purple lips, her acrid redolence, Her black lewd limbs, her breasts, whose foul incense Smoked like hell’s mouth though pendulous they hung, Her devilish black belly, and her tongue Sharp as a tiger’s tooth, lured on my lust. Oh ! God in heaven ! It is turned to dust And dung and corpse-flesh ! I can see even here (For changeful spectres haunt me) how a tear Of blood stood on my breast at her first bite : And day grew dusk, and twil…
1898 · PDF PAGE 98
92 THE BLOOD-LOTUS Their song is in my ears, that burn with their melodious wickedness ; But in her heart my sorceress has songs more sinful, that I learn As she sings slowly all their shame, and makes me tingle with delight At new debaucheries, whose might rekindles blood and bone to flame. The circle gathers. Negresses howl in the naked dance, and wheel On poniard-blades of poisoned steel, and weep out blood in agonies ; Strange beast and reptile writhe ; the song grows high and melancholy now ; The perfume savours every brow with lust unutte…
1898 · PDF PAGE 132
…-haired Greek goddess, who divines In me a god, who cannot read the lines Of anguish on my forehead, neither scent The poison of breast, blood, and excrement ! I gnash my teeth in impotent despair That I may never hold her heavenly hair Again, nor bite her lips, as once my teeth Met in her cheek, to cull a rosy wreath Of blood upon it, nor assuage the pangs Of love with hardy limbs, and dolorous fangs, And sweating body, crimsoning with gore, As her mad mouth devoured me. Never more Though years decay ! With them my blood decays, My bones rot i…
1898 · PDF PAGE 61
…ame 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
1898 · PDF PAGE 91
THE BLOOD-LOTUS 85 THE BLOOD-LOTUS The ashen sky, too sick for sleep, makes my face grey ; my senses swoon ; Here, in the glamour of the moon, will not some pity- ing godhead weep For cold grey anguish of her eyes, that look to God, and look in vain, For death, the anodyne of pain, for sleep, earth’s trivial paradise ? Sleep I forget. Her silky breath no longer fans my ears ; I dream I float on some forgotten stream that hath a saviour still of death, A sweet warm smell of hidden flowers whose heavy petals kiss the sun, Fierce tropic poisons ev…
1898 · PDF PAGE 120
…to sleep Thither to lie by thee, Hold thee with arms that cleave Lock thee in limbs that leap, Chain thee with lips that leave Kisses of blood to weave Castles of hope in sleep. Poppy ! best flower whose bud Sends dreams to men that die, I drain thy drowsy flood That our impatient blood May mingle utterly. So, Hermes, thou art wed, So, Aphrodite, mine, In one sweet spirit shed
1898 · PDF PAGE 92
86 THE BLOOD-LOTUS They grow in darkness, heat beguiles their sluggish kisses, in the wood They breathe no murmur that is good, and Satan in their blossom smiles. They murder with the old perfume that maddens all men’s blood ; we die Fresh from some corpse-clothed memory, some secret redolence of gloom, Some darkling murmurous song of lust quite strange to man and beast and bird, Silent in power, not overheard by any snake that eats the dust : No crimson-hooded viper knows, no silver-crested asp has guessed The strange soft secrets of my breast…
1898 · PDF PAGE 95
THE BLOOD-LOTUS 89 Sheds a loose hint of subtle sin such as the queen Faustina had. Thou drawest me. Thy golden lips are carven Cleo- patra-wise Large, full, and moist, within them lies the silver rampart, whence there slips That rosy flame of love, the fount of blood at my light bidding spilt ; And my desires, if aught thou wilt, are with thy mind, and thy account With God shall bear my name the more ; give me the knowledge, me the power For some new sin one little hour, and bankrupt God the creditor : Steal from his stock of suffering ; his t…
1898 · PDF PAGE 99
THE BLOOD-LOTUS 93 With vine and myrtle and thy flower, my harlot-maiden, who for man Now first forsakest thy leman, thy Eve, my Lilith, in this bower Which we indwell, a deathless three, changeless and changing, as the pyre Of earthly love becomes a fire to heat us through eternity. I have forgotten Christ at last ; he may look back, grown amorous, And call across the gulf to us, and signal kisses through the vast ; We shall disdain, clasp vaster yet, and mock his newer pangs, and call With stars and voices musical, jeers his touched heart sha…
1898 · PDF PAGE 130
…erpent was my whore ; her hellish hiss, Her slaver venoms soul and strength ; life flees Repugnant from the corpse-caress. Ah, this Rots blood and body ; see, the liquor’s lees I drained, whose pangs are fierce with Syphilis. Christ God, damn soul, but quench the pain of these ! This is th’ abyss ! * * * This is th’ abyss. Behold wherein I lurk The lazar-house my mind, wherein do work The horrid charnel-priests, whose loathly song Sickens my soul, and quells the spirit strong. Hell-fire within my heart ! and poisoned blood Through every vein an…
1898 · PDF PAGE 93
THE BLOOD-LOTUS 87 The scents fulfil, they permeate all lips, all arteries, and fire New murmured music on the lyre that throbs the horrors they create. Omniscient blossom ! Is thy red slack bosom fresher for my kiss ? Are thy loves sharper ? Hast thou bliss in all the sorrows of the dead ? Why art thou paler when the moon grows loftier in the troublous sky ? Why dost thou beat and heave when I press lips of fire, hell’s princeliest boon, To thy mad petals, green and gold like angels’ wings, when as a flood God’s essence fills them, and the blo…
1898 · PDF PAGE 94
88 THE BLOOD-LOTUS To lure a soul to hell, to draw some saint’s charred lust, to tempt, to win Another sacrifice to sin, another poet’s heart to gnaw With dubious remorse. Oh ! flame of torturing flower- love ! sacrament Of Satan, triple element of mystery and love and shame, Green, gold, and crimson, in my heart you strive with Jesus for its realm, While Sorrow’s tears would overwhelm the warriors of either part ! Jesus would lure me : from his side the gleaming torrent of the spear Withdraws, my soul with joy and fear waits for sweet blood to…
1898 · PDF PAGE 66
…; They lie on their faces, their eyelids lack Tears, and their cheeks are as roses dead ; White are their throats, but upon the back Red blood is clotted in gouts of black. All on their sides are the wounds of lust, Down, from the home of their auburn hair Down to the feet that we find so fair ; Where the red sword has a secret thrust Pain, and delight, and desire they share. Verily, pain ! and thy daughters trust Thou canst bid roses spring out of dust. Mingle, ye children of such a queen, Mingle, and meet, and sow never a seed ! Mingle, and t…
1898 · PDF PAGE 135
… of funeral, Turned to fierce blasphemies, and words obscene. Nine hours we lay as dead, and then my queen Writhed in my arms again, and blood leapt up To our fresh kisses to fill full the cup Of horror to the brim. Again as dead Were we borne forth, and then—Can I forget ? I gripped thy glossy throat. My fingers met Crushing through the skin and muscle, nerve and vein, And in that supreme agony of pain I drained myself of lust ! That final clasp Was consummated in thy dying gasp ! The frightful struggle ended ; I leapt high, Caught sword, bare…
1898 · PDF PAGE 10
…d additional Stanzas for “ A Ballad of Burdens ” ........... 83 “ Go into the Highways and Hedges, and compel them to come in ” . 84 The Blood-Lotus ................................................................................ 85 To my First-born ............................................................................... 95 Chant au Saint-Espirit ...................................................................... 96 Victory ............................................................................................... 99 Sleeping in C…
1898 · PDF PAGE 123
…e that tires My thirsty lips with its insatiate fires, While swart limbs soft and strong Grip my hot head, while thy lips kiss away With blood and foam the life from him thou wouldst not slay.
1898 · PDF PAGE 112
…is ended. From the lips That hide their blushes in the golden wood A fervent fountain amorously slips, The dainty rivers of thy luscious blood ; Red streams of sweet nepenthe that eclipse The milder nectar that the gods hold good— How my dry throat, held hard between thy hips, Shall drain the moon-wrought flow of womanhood ! Divinest token of sterility, Strange barren fountain blushing from the womb, Like to an echo of Augustan gloom When all men drank this wine ; it maddens me With yearnings after new divinity, Prize of thy draught, some where…
1898 · PDF PAGE 27
…’s gaze : So blush at being mine, yet gently come And place a dainty hand within my hold Too delicate to crush it into warmth, Save that blood mantling to thy cheek shall flow Back to the fingers, though I press them not. And so I will not hesitate to put A ring upon thy hand, sweet mystery Of Love’s device, to shadow in our hearts
1898 · PDF PAGE 56
…highs that make me furious As they enclasp me and swing to and fro With passion that grows pale and drives the flow Of the fast fragrant blood of both of us Into the awful link that knits us close With chain electric ! O have mercy yet In drawing out my life in this desire To consummate this moment all the gross Lusts of to-night, and pay the sudden dept That with strong water shall put out our fire !
1898 · PDF PAGE 101
…wer. Another prostitute Predestined, born man, damned to grow a brute ! Another travels tainted to the tomb ! My sin, my madness, in thy blood are set, A vile imperishable coronet, To hound thee into hell ! God spits at thee The curse thy parents earned. Revenge be thine ! Kiss Lust, kill Truth, and worship at Sin’s shrine. And foul His face with dung—thy infamy !