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Page 1 of 11901 · PDF PAGE 66
54 THE SOUL OF OSIRIS. “ THE TWO WISDOMS.” OPHIE ! I loved her, tenderly at worst. Yet in my passion’s highest ecstasy, When life lost pleasure in desire to die And never taste again the deadly thirst For those caresses ; even then a curst Sick pang shot through me : looking afar on high, Beyond, I see £¿Æ¹± in the sky. The pretty bubble of Love’s pipe is burst ! Yea ! through the portals of the dusky dawn I see the nameless Rose of Heaven unfold ! Yea ! through rent passion and desire withdrawn Burns in the East the far ephemeral gold. O Wisdo…
1901 · PDF PAGE 11
…E. ix Thou wast a lion as an angel then, In copper-glowing lands that gnaws the prey He has regotten from the tribes of men. We lay like passion all that deadly day— Thou wast a lion as an angel then ! Great angel of the brazen brows, great lover, Great hater of my body as my soul, To whom I gave my life and love thrice over, Fill me one last caress—the poison-bowl ! Great angel of the brazen brows, great lover !
1901 · PDF PAGE 89
…ves complain of their own happiness. In perfect love no sure abiding stands, In perfect faith are no immortal bands Of God and man. This passion we possess Necessitous ; insistent none the less Because we know not how its purpose brands Our lives. Even on God’s knees and in His hands : The Law of Change. “ Out, out, adulteress ! ” ? These be the furies, and the harpies these ? That discontent should sum the happiest sky ? That of all boons man lacks the greatest—rest ? Nay ! But the promise of the centuries, The certain pledge of immortality, C…
1901 · PDF PAGE 111
…itterness I flung ; Where charmed music gathered from my tongue, And where I chained strange archipelagoes Of fallen stars ; where fiery passion flows A curious bitumen ; where among The glowing medley moved the tune unsung Of perfect love : thence grew the Mystic Rose. Its myriad petals of divided light ; Its leaves of the most radiant emerald ; Its heart of fire like rubies. At the sight I lifted up my heart to God and called : How shall I pluck this dream of my desire ? And lo ! there shaped itself the Cross of Fire ! O
1901 · PDF PAGE 22
…; I borrow music from the nightingale. In vain : she knows me, that I hate her quite. Not altogether : in my patchwork brain Some rag of passion tears its woof asunder. Strange, that its own insatiable pain Should find an opiate in her eyes of wonder ! Yes, though I hate her well enough to kill, I know that then my soul would love her still. H
1901 · PDF PAGE 56
44 THE SOUL OF OSIRIS. Of perfect passionate joy, the joy of wine, The drunkenness of extreme pleasure, filled From sin’s amazing cup. Oh, mine, mine, mine, Mine, if your kisses maddened me or killed, Mine, at the price of my damnation deep, Mine, if you will, as once your glances willed ! Take me, or break me, slay or sooth to sleep, If only yours one hour, one perfect hour, Remembrance and despair and hope to steep In the infernal potion of that flower, My poisonous passion for your blood ! Behold ! How utterly I yield, how gladly dower Our s…
1901 · PDF PAGE 116
104 THE SOUL OF OSIRIS. My figure stands above, sublime, Shadowing the Key of Life, And the passion of my mighty rhyme Divides me as a knife. For secret symbols on my brow, And secret thoughts within, Compel eternity to Now, Draw the Infinite within. Light is extended. I and Thou Are as they had not been. So on my head the light is one, Unity manifest ; A star more splendid than the sun Burns for my crownéd crest ; Burns, as the murmuring orison Of waters in the west. What angel from the silver gate Flames to my fierier face ? What angel, as I …
1901 · PDF PAGE 28
…the tempestival moon. Her course is measured in the sonnet’s tether, Waxes the eight-fold ecstasy ; exceeds The minor sestet, where some passion bleeds Or truth discourses : or eclipse may end, Proof against thought ; but if man comprehend The stars in all their stations sing together. II. What power or fascination can there lie In this fair garden of the straight-kept rows, The sonnet ? Surely some archangel knows Why, having written in mere ecstasy T
1901 · PDF PAGE 117
…ted end. Still on the mystic Tree of Life My soul is crucified ; Still strikes the sacrificial knife Where lurks some serpent-eyed Fear, passion, or man’s deadly wife Desire, the suicide ! Before me dwells the Holy One Anointed Beauty’s King ; Behind me, mightier than the Sun, To whom the cherubs sing, A strong archangel, known of none, Comes crowned and conquering. An angel stands on my right hand With strength of ocean’s wrath ; Upon my left the fiery brand, Charioted fire smites forth : Four great archangels to withstand The furies of the pa…
1901 · PDF PAGE 19
…ose the shaken tresses ; Fallen the sandal and girdling gold, Fallen the music manifold Of moving limbs and strange caresses, And deadly passion that possesses The magic ecstasy of these Mad maidens, tender as blue seas. Night spreads her yearning pinions, The baffled day sinks blind to sleep ; The evening breeze outswoons the sun’s Dead kisses to the swooning deep. Upsoars the moon ; the flashing steep Of heaven is fragrant for her feet ; The perfume of the grove is sweet As slumbering women furtive creep To bosoms where small kisses weep, And…
1901 · PDF PAGE 55
… prize, And on them burns the whole life’s hope : you deem You buy a heart ; but I am well aware How my damnation dwells in that supreme Passion to feed upon your shoulders bare, And pass the dewy twilight of our sin In the intolerable flames of hair That clothe my body from your head ; you win The devil’s bargain ; I am yours to kill, Yours, for one kiss ; my spirit for your skin ! O bitter love, consuming all my will ! O love destroying, that hast drained my life Of all those fountains of dear blood that fill My heart ! O woman, would I call …
1901 · PDF PAGE 34
22 THE SOUL OF OSIRIS. Then, as a man betrayed, and doomed Already, I arose and went, And wrestled with myself, consumed With passion for that sacrament Of shame. From that day unto this My cheek desires that hideous kiss. Her hate, her scorn, her cruel blows, Fill my whole life, consume my breath ; Her red-fanged hatred in me glows ; I lust for her, and hell, and death ; I see that ghastly look, and yearn Toward the brands of her that burn. Sleep shuns me ; dreams divide the night (My parched throat thirsty for her veins), That she and I with …
1901 · PDF PAGE 18
…OUL OF OSIRIS. Monstrous desires of secret things Upon their worshippers, from wings One lucent web of light, from head One labyrinthine passion-fed Palace of love, from breathing rife With secrets of forbidden life. But not the sunlight, nor the stars, Nor any light but theirs alone, Nor iron masteries of Mars, Nor Saturn’s misconceiving zone, Nor any planet’s may be shone, Within the circle of the grove, Where burn the sanctities of love : Nor may the foot of man be known, Nor evil eyes of mothers thrown On maidens that desire the kiss Only o…
1901 · PDF PAGE 45
… Turn to my lips till their cup overflow ; Hurt me with kisses, kill me with desire, Consume me and destroy me with the fire Of bleeding passion straining at the heart, Touched to the core by sweetnesses that smart Bitten by fiery snakes, whose poisonous breath Swoons in the midnight, and dissolves to death ! Ah ! let me perish so, and not endure Thy falsehood who have known thy love was sure, Built up by sighs a palace of long years— Lo ! it was faery, and the spell of tears T
1901 · PDF PAGE 83
…elf a bitter thing, Standing abased. The golden marriage ring The queen had given—how her beauty stank Now in mine yes, where once their passion drank Its secret sweets of poison. Let the spring Of love once dawn—all else hath little thank ! Yet resolute I put my love away. I could not live in this amazing day.
1901 · PDF PAGE 78
…ain me to her,” I cried, comparing. Then, my spirit knew her For One beyond all song—my poor heart turned : Then, ’tis no wonder. And my passion burned Mightier yet than ever. To renew her Venom from those pure eyes ? And yet I yearned. Still, I stepped onward. Credit me so far ! The harlot had my soul : my will, the star ! Thus I went onward, as a man goes blind, Into a torrent crowd of mine own kind ;
1901 · PDF PAGE 91
…into wedded beauties, flickering, never lost— That is the spirit of love, incarnate in your flesh ! Your bodies had wearied me, but your passion was ever fresh : You were many indeed, but your love for me was one. Then I perceived the stars to reflect a single sun— Not burning suns themselves, in furious regular race, But mirrors of midnight, lit to remind us of His face.
1901 · PDF PAGE 48
…ooks deadly, looks desirable, The touch that fires, the next kiss, and the whole Body embracing, symbol of the soul, And all the perfect passion of an hour. Turn to me, pluck that amaranthine flower, And leave the doubtful blossoms of the sky ! You dare not kiss me ! dare not draw you nigh Lest I should lure you to remain ! nor speak Lest you should catch the blood within your cheek Mantling. You dared enough—so long ago !— When to my blossom body clean as snow You pressed your bosom till desire was pain, And—then—that midnight ! you did dare r…
1901 · PDF PAGE 47
… a man Whose little moment is a single span, Whose small desire is nothing—and thy power Must root from out his bosom the fair flower Of passion ! Listen to thine own voice yet : “ A rich man many flocks and herds did get, “ And took the poor man’s lamb.” Thou art the man ! Our love must lie beneath thy bitter ban ! Thou petty, envious God ! My king, be sure His brute force shall not to the end endure ; Some stronger soul than thine shall wrest his crown And thrust him from his own high heaven down To some obscure forgetful hell. For me Forsake…