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Page 1 of 11922 · PDF PAGE 2
… lovers’ lips, from lips withdrawn, Seek dimmer bosoms till the dawn. Yet on the central altar lies The sacrament of kneaded bread, With blood made one, the sacrifice To those, the living, who are dead— Strange gods and goddesses, that shed 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…
1922 · PDF PAGE 7
In the infernal potion of that flower, My poisonous passion for your blood! Behold! How utterly I yield, how gladly dower Our sin with my own spirit’s quenched gold, Clothe love with my own soul’s immortal power, Give thee my body as a fire to hold— O love, no words, no songs—your breast my bower! NON SUM QUALIS ERAM BONAE SUB REGNO CYNARAE (By Ernest Dowson. From Poems. 1905) LAs? night, ah yesternight, betwixt her lips and mine There fell thy shadow, Cynara! thy breath was shed Upon my soul between the kisses and the wine; And I was desolate …
1922 · PDF PAGE 6
… 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 heartt O woman, would I call you wife? Would I content you with one touch divine To flood your spirit with the clinging strife 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! …
1922 · PDF PAGE 5
… 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 remain Though all my limbs were bloody with your mouth That tore their flesh to satiate its drouth, That was not thereby satisfied! And now A pallid coward, with sly, skulking brow, You must leave Sodom for your spouse’s sake. …