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Page 1 of 21906 · PDF PAGE 42
…nd its friend remorse. Crime we snatch, between spell and spell. Man is aglare, and is off unheard. Woman hath speech, of a single word. Hell may be heaven, for earth is hell! So do I laugh, and the hideous coarse Peals like applause re-echo and cease. Here in the close and noisome cave, Drunk on the breath of the thieves and whores Close as they cram in the maw of the pit, Sick with the stench of the kisses that rave Round me, surfeiting sense, in scores; Mad with their meaning, I smoke and sit Riming at random through my teeth, Gray with the …
1906 · PDF PAGE 87
In death each damnéd minion Of Set, the accursed lord of Hell. Yea! in those globes of fire there sate Some cruel knowledge closely curled Like serpents in those halls of hate, Palaces of the Underworld. But in the hell-glow of those eyes The ashen skull of Pharaoh shone White as the moonrays that surprise The invoking Druse on Lebanon. Moreover pylon shouldered round To pylon an unearthly tune, Like phantom priests that strike and sound Sinister sistrons at the moon. And death’s insufferable perfume Beat the black air with golden fans As Turki…
1906 · PDF PAGE 109
… They told me I was damned. The Shroff! Gave me ten dollars Mex. (For ease Of English souls the dead Chinese Are taxed) to pay my way in hell. On one pound sterling one lives well. For luxuries are cheaply paid Since Satan introduced Free Trade; And necessaries—woe is me !|— Are furnished to the damned soul free. Ill. God’s hell, Earth’s heaven, are not so far. Dinner brought oysters, caviar, ) Anchovies, truffles, curried rabbit (Bad for the apoplectic habit) While ancient brandy and champagne Washed down the dainties. Once again 1 Money-chang…
1906 · PDF PAGE 114
VIII. I did not sleep at all: but she:— O face of deathless agony! O torture of hell’s worm, to wrest From peace that miserable breast! Me, me she strikes in mid-delight Staggered and shattered at the sight, The moment that she slept. I laughed Thereat: the bowl I idly quaffed Was nectar: she amused me, so. You see, my friend, I did not know. I also slept at morn. Then, then, A low voice whispered in the den: ‘* Lucky young fellow! Brave and clever! This sort of thing goes on for ever,” IX, On earth I dreaded impotence, Age, death. You see, I h…
1906 · PDF PAGE 119
… grown old and rotten And deeds undared his sceptre, sword, and globe. Keep us, O Mary maid, What time the King-Ghost goes arrayed ! The Hell-Wind whistles through his plumeless pinions; Clanks all that melancholy host of bones; Fate’s principalities and Death’s dominions Echo the drear discord, the tuneless tones. Keep us, dear God, from ill, What time the Hell-Wind whistles shrill. The King-Ghost hath no music but their rattling ; No scent but death’s grown faint and fugitive; No light but this their leprous pallor battling Weakly with night.…
1906 · PDF PAGE 117
Therefore, I take it, now in Hades The funny side of things—and ladies— Engages my attention. Well! You know enough of life in Hell. I was an altruist, my brothers! My life one long kind thought for others: For me six maidens wear the willow :— Poisoning is a peccadillo. Hence I’m disposed to give advice, Simple, if possibly not nice; Shun life! an awkward task and deep. But if you cannot, then—shun sleeep! (Suppose I thus had prophesied, Gone to my wife to bed, and died !) 109
1906 · PDF PAGE 53
…e: nay, abstain from choice of these. Go, be alone, and be at ease! Retire: renounce: the hermit’s cell Hath all of earth, and naught of hell. Renouncing all, keep naught enshrined A lurking serpent in the mind, Deem not to catch some goodlier gain Than these; the goodliest prize were pain. Know that the utmost heaven is void Of aught save star or asteroid! Or, an it please thee, idly dream A God therein, a force supreme, 47
1906 · PDF PAGE 80
…f gold, But by a fierce and loathly word The abomination must be told. The holy work must twist its spell From hemp of madness, grown in hell. Only by energy and strife May man attain the eternal rest, Dissolve the desperate lust of life By infinite agony and zest. Thus, O my Kali, I divine The golden secret of thy shrine! 72
1906 · PDF PAGE 18
…imate risen high Above his fellows, work thou well! As man, an incident minute And dim in time’s eternity, Work well! As man, no toy for hell And heaven to wrangle for, be mute! Let empty speculation stir The idle fool, the craven cur! XIII. Myself being idle for an hour I dare one thing to speculate: Namely, that life hath cusps yet higher On this our curve: a prize, a power Lies in our grasp: unthinking Fate Shall build a brain to nestle nigher 10
1906 · PDF PAGE 77
…d on my bosom’s throne ; She takes my muséd orisons To her, to her, to her alone. O Kali, Kali, Kali, quell This hooded hate, O Queen of Hell! Her ruby-studded brow is calm; Her eyes shine like some sleepy flood ; Her breast is oliban and balm; Her tongue lolls out, a-dripping blood ; She swings my body to and fro; She breaks me on the wheel of woe! To her eternal rapture seems Mere nature; underneath the crown Of dusky emeralds there streams A river of bliss to sluice me down With blood and tears, to drown my thought, To bring my being into na…
1906 · PDF PAGE 112
… He made his bed, and he must lie in it. VI. After my dinner I debate (Urged to the task by habit’s Fate) The project of a poisoning. In hell one finds that everything Is easy. Poison to my hand; A cunning potion cool and bland Fit to administer the draught :— How like old times! I nodded, laughed, Poisoned my neighbour, a young girl Sent here for marrying an earl. Of course she did not die. But then On earth I never killed my men; They only die whom one forgets. Remember that each action sets Its mark still deeper in the mind! 104
1906 · PDF PAGE 55
… Life, death, strength, weakness, are but idle chatter. Nothing is lost or gained, we know too well. For heaven they balance us an equal hell. We discard both ; an infinite Universe Remains; we sum it up—an infinite curse. So—am I aman? I lack my wife’s embrace. Am I outworn? I see the harlot’s face. Is the love better and the knowledge worse? Shall I seek knowledge and count love disgrace? Where is the profit in so idle a strife? The love of knowledge is the hate of life. 45
1906 · PDF PAGE 113
…ght, half-gloom, Perfectly purposed for debauch. In mirrors shines a wicked nautch, And on the floor Hawaian belles Rave in a hula-hula?—Hell’s! Fragonard, Rops, had lined the walls With wild indecent bacchanals, And bawdy photographs attest The Devil’s taste to be the best. 1 Japanese coin worth a small portion of a penny. 2 The indecent dance of the South Seas. 105
1906 · PDF PAGE 91
One kiss is hers full rank and red— Do you sip at her lip? Hell hangs on her fangs ! She loves; love laughs at pity! Then who will up to taste her mouth? Who on her mount and ride? Look to the North, the West, the South! There is carnage vulture-eyed. Then who will suck the breath of death, The swift and glittering bride ? The bride that clings as a snare with springs To the warrior’s stricken side? A shudder struck the hidden men As the maniac’s mouthings ceased. Then, kindling, rose a roar: ‘‘ Spread, spread the furtive feast ! The wine of ag…
1906 · PDF PAGE 110
…ed to haunt the Continental. A saucy little elemental Flitted across; I heard it sneer; ** You won’t get water, though, I fear.” That ’s hell all over. Good-bye, greens, Water, cold mutton, bread, and beans! They feed us well, like gentlemen, On chilis, seasoned with cayenne. Worse, one must finish every course. ’S truth, I had rather eat boiled horse! IV. My first friend was an agéd monk, He fed on rice and water. Sunk His cheeks and cold his blood. You see The fool was a damned soul like me; He had starved himself on earth in hope In heaven t…
1906 · PDF PAGE 111
…ause on earth I did not care. I met a grave philosopher— Had sought most nobly not to err Probing God’s Nature. See his lobes Swell with hell’s torment! Still he probes 103
1906 · PDF PAGE 120
…wns the clamorous dirges? —Shrieking they fly, the King-Ghost and his slaves. Lord, let Thy Ghost indwell, And keep us from the power of Hell! | AMEN. 112
1906 · PDF PAGE 48
…od for dew, the bosom boils; And a gust of sulphur is all its smell. And lo, he is horribly in the toils Of a coal-black giant flower of hell ! BrownineG, Heretic’s Tragedy, ix. I. Ross of the world! Ay, love, in that warm hour Wet with your kisses, the bewitching bud Flamed in the starlight; then our bed your bower Heaved like the breast of some alluring flood Whereon a man might sleep for ever, until Death should surprise him, kiss his weary will Into the last repose, profounder power Than life could compass. Now I tax my skill To find anothe…
1906 · PDF PAGE 49
…s dejection And not from noon springs up the splendid sun? Not till the house is swept and garnished well Rise seven other devils out of hell. VII. This is the circle; as the manhood rises And laughter and rude rime engage my pen; ‘ 43
1906 · PDF PAGE 31
… The appalling hours of noon; I parched; I blistered: all the ghastly crew Of mind’s sick horror mocked me; arched Tike flaming vault of hell and pressed Its passionate murder in my breast. Seven times I strove to slay me: filled My mouth with sand to choke my breath. In vain! No loftier purpose willed The iron miracle of death. So, blind and strangled, I survive. So, with my skin a single scar, I hail the night, the night alive With Hathor for the evening star. O beauty! See me broken, burned Lone on the languorous Lybian plain! Is there one l…