 | Poems and Sonnets |  |
143
THE LEOPARD.
Sweet leopard, kill me, claw me, anything,The more you irritate me I the more
Shall love the chiding of your velvet paw,
The more you tease me louder I shall sing,
The further cast away the closer cling,
Fiercely repelled more fervently adore;
More gracious far than any peace the war
Of feelings those green catlike glances bring;
Be merciful and slay me, let me know
The utmost sweet abandonment of being,
The extremity of a delicious woe,
Love, I am here before thee, ceased from fleeing,
Be tender if thou canst and strike me so
That I may die thy face entrancèd seeing!
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