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Page 1 of 11910 · PDF PAGE 119
66 THE WORLD’S TRAGEDY. — Ho ! What a whistle of wind Whirling the spumy scud Of the lake into a column of ecstasy ! Like a sharp spear it rushes up to me, And in my face it flutters like a dove Whispering strange words of love. It sunders me ! it cuts me — now, ah ! touch ! These empty arms that grope, that strain, that clutch Mere air, grow limp..... The wind is like a scythe That cuts its swathe through my green field, Even as I groan and writhe In the agony that pierces to the marrow. The wind ! the wind ! an arrow That hath smitten me thro…
1910 · PDF PAGE 112
II THE WHITE WIND
1910 · PDF PAGE 114
II THE WHITE WIND A bare volcanic desert. A foul lake stagnant in the distance. A crazy hovel on the edge of the squalid village. The clamour of Syrian dogs. A young girl stealing through the shadows of the moonless night, craftily. THE GIRL They have not stirred. I am unseen, unheard. Now for some honey of note Plucked from the black lion’s throat ! There is no moon : earth is too still. A heat, yet bitter chill, Is in the air, the windless air. O for a breath of snow-wind on The crest of Lebanon ! I would that boy that laughed
1910 · PDF PAGE 118
THE WHITE WIND. 65 Nay, touch me not. I am a virgin vowed — She lays her hand upon his arm. I am of royal race Most mortal proud — She kneels, kissing his robe. Spare me, sweet sir ! She pretends to stagger, and falls back upon the ground. Her robe falls from her. THE YOUTH I am a messenger. He disappears. MIRIAM Shaitan ! he slipped my grip. Is there no flood to drip Some icy liquor on this hell-scarred brow ? See ! The red star glows fainter now. All is a velvet heat of horror. Night Holds me in torture. Hark ! the lake Stirs in its sleep ; t…
1910 · PDF PAGE 120
THE WHITE WIND. 67 With face averted that constrains me to him — And this blind worm is avarice. Let me woo him ! Sweet God ! I’ll serve thee. This is Piety Twin-bodied with Hypocrisy that darts His icy slime into my heart of hearts. Here cringing Pity my wet womb inflates, And puffed-out Charity with loose red cheeks And greasy eyes. The Bigotry that sneaks Home to my home ; and once installed there, hates The bleeding wound his mouth is fastened on ; And here is Chastity that slavering sates His lust without the walls, grins, and is gone, Pre…
1910 · PDF PAGE 124
THE WHITE WIND. 7I On rugs of fur and silk Broidered with curious device Of basilisk and cockatrice Upon the broad-woven scarlet marge. — God ! how this bosom boils with milk, Its veined radiance swelling — Ah ! the light grows — Back, from these splendid woes And joys obscure Into the squalid and impure House, and the filth indwelling ! She crawls within the hovel.
1910 · PDF PAGE 150
…trangled humanity, The delirious dream Of the Vampires of Vanity ! The kings rise, bow, and depart. THE KINGS Away, away like the wanton wind ! One to the groves of ilex tall ; One to the plains of infinite Ind ; One beyond the Mongol wall. As we met, so we part. Three great kings and one true heart !
1910 · PDF PAGE 122
THE WHITE WIND. 69 THE CENTURION The brazenest whore in Syria, I dare swear ! PUBLIUS Look at the blood ! A very Hymen flare ! THE CENTURION New meat to-night. She hath acquired the taste. Come, friends, enjoy her. Have we time to waste ? I heard the cock crow. He embraces her rudely. PUBLIUS Let it crow for her ! One by one they defile her. MIRIAM Scarce forty ! Yet the dawn begins to stir : The Wolf’s tail blots my star. At last I strain Some strength that strains my body back again. THE CENTURION Enough, lads ! If she breed not, at my peril …
1910 · PDF PAGE 90
…ves, Great Nubian girls that bled Upon the sands — so laves The sun his fire in cloud When the sea glows glassy red At the buffet of the wind On its cheek all wrinkle-lined. Ah ! thou Lord God ! thus thrice I made thy sacrifice. Still thou art dumb, Though I am duly come
1910 · PDF PAGE 106
…nquered all, And became all, and now is all. — Oh matchless musical Seven-throated god, I hear thy stridency Like nereids playing on the wind-struck sea That heaves herself with sensuous swaying ! I have seen a wild girl woven in gold Stained with blue and scarlet — playing Before me — she transported me With the writhings of her painted hips And her belly jerking up to my lips, Into an azure abyss of sea,
1910 · PDF PAGE 116
THE WHITE WIND. 63 My maiden lily-bloom. For all my cheeks are flooded with desire And shame, and black foul fire That bubbles in my soul, and shoots its terror Out of these sloe-black eyes Into the lake’s unfathomable mirror, That, laughing back upon me laughing, lies. I will creep in — afar From the frenzy of yon nameless star. But who art thou Descending in a cloud of cherubim ? A moon-white sickle crowns that flashing brow ; Thine head like the wise bird Splendidly grim That utters that unutterable word ; Thy body like the bright sun in his…
1910 · PDF PAGE 93
…s ! It is our Master’s will That thou partake Of — this ! So do the goat and snake Dance on the pavement of sapphire To the sound of the wind-haunted lyre. And the light of a lewd understanding Shines in them, and they lick their lips, and spill Slaver of the stars ! Hail, king ! With Him fulfil The sacrament of earth Imperiously commanding That leaps again to birth At the divided flood
1910 · PDF PAGE 70
…d axis of the soul. CHRYSIPPUS Hear then ! By Abrasax ! the bar Of the unshifting star Is broken — Io ! Asar ! My spirit is wrapt in the wind of light ; It is whirled away on the wings of night, Sable-plumed are the wonderful wings, But the silver of moonlight subtly springs Into the feathers that flash with the pace Of our flight to the violate bounds of space. Time is dropt like a stone from the stars : Space is a chaos of broken bars : Being is merged in a furious flood That rages and hisses and foams in the blood. See ! I am dead ! I am pas…