Thelema ScholarTHE ALEISTER CROWLEY COLLECTION
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1922 · PDF PAGE 4

Poetica Erotica

Lot (By Aleister Crowley. From The Soul of Osiris. 'URN back from safety, in my love abide, ‘Whose lips are warm as when, a virgin bride I clung to thee ashamed and very glad, Whose breasts are lordlier for the pain they had, ‘Whose arms cleave closer than thy spouse’s own! Thy spouse—O lover, kiss me, and atone! All my veins burst for love, my ripe breasts beat And lay their bleeding blossoms at thy feet! Spurn me no more! O bid these strangers go; Turn to my lips till their cup overflow; * * * * * * make delight the minister of pain, pain the…

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1922 · PDF PAGE 7

Poetica Erotica

…r, 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 and sick of an old passion, Yea, I w…

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1922 · PDF PAGE 2

Poetica Erotica

And lovers’ lips, from lips withdrawn, Seek dimmer bosoms till the dawn.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 Sat…

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1922 · PDF PAGE 6

Poetica Erotica

…t 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 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 maddene…

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1922 · PDF PAGE 3

Poetica Erotica

…o the gloom Laps them in waves as smooth as wine, As glowing as the fiery womb Of some young tigress, dark as doom, Andswift as sunrise. Love's content Builds its own monument, And carves above its vaulted tomb The Phoenix on her fiery plume, To their own souls to testify Their kisses’ immortality.

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1922 · PDF PAGE 5

Poetica Erotica

To earn thy curse? Is love like ours too strong To dwell before thee, and do thy throne no wrong? Art thou grown jealous of the fiery band? Lo! thou hast spoken, and thy strong command Bade earth and air divide, and on the sea Thy spirit moved—and thou must envy me! 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 thy hopes …

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1922 · PDF PAGE 1

Poetica Erotica

…feasts in valleys iron-bound, Desolate crags, and barren ground;— There in the strong storm-shaken grove Swings the pale censer-fire for love. The foursquare altar, rightly hewn, And overlaid with beaten gold, Stands in the gloom; the stealthy tune Of singing maidens overbold Desires mad mysteries untold, With strange eyes kindling, as the fleet Implacable untiring feet ‘Weave mystic figures manifold That draw down angels to behold The moving music, and the fire Of their intolerable desire. For, maddening to fiercer thought, The fiery limbs req…

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