 | Imaginary Sonnets |  |
57
MAXIMILIAN ARNOLFINI TO LUCRETIA BUONVISI.
(1580.)
In El Dorado's forests, it is said,
There dwells a monstrous man-devouring flower,
Worshipped as a divinity; each hour,
From dawn to dusk, with some new victim fed.
There dwells a monstrous man-devouring flower,
Worshipped as a divinity; each hour,
From dawn to dusk, with some new victim fed.
Her beauty lures the wretch; her petals spread
Strange drowsy scents; sleep grasps him in its power;
Till iron tendrils, creeping nearer, lower,
Draw him, fast bound, as to a nuptial bed.
Strange drowsy scents; sleep grasps him in its power;
Till iron tendrils, creeping nearer, lower,
Draw him, fast bound, as to a nuptial bed.
Even such art thou. Pale beauty, dost thou think
I know it not, or that I quail beneath
Thy baleful shade, and from thy kisses shrink?
I know it not, or that I quail beneath
Thy baleful shade, and from thy kisses shrink?
I caught the fatal incense of thy breath,
And let my head in glorious freedom sink
On thy dread breast, thou worshipped flower of death.
And let my head in glorious freedom sink
On thy dread breast, thou worshipped flower of death.
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