 | English Roses |  |
DELICIOUS DEATH.
On the dim selvage of the dusk,
The uttermost gray mist and marge
Of an enchanted wood,
Which held as in a sacred husk
Some dainty and most precious charge,
Tempting a maiden stood.
One foot was in the shadow set,
One trembled in the moonshine's ray
Which flickered where it fell;
And her great dewy eyes were wet
With tears, that veiled the dazzling day
Of their unearthly spell.
The uttermost gray mist and marge
Of an enchanted wood,
Which held as in a sacred husk
Some dainty and most precious charge,
Tempting a maiden stood.
One foot was in the shadow set,
One trembled in the moonshine's ray
Which flickered where it fell;
And her great dewy eyes were wet
With tears, that veiled the dazzling day
Of their unearthly spell.
Naked in all her native charms,
She beckoned to me with her hands,
Which glimmered clear and white;
And O the gesture of those arms
Was like an awful Queen's commands,
Compelling, infinite.
And on her half-averted face
Crowned with its golden locks of light,
My eyes enamoured fed;
I owned the glamour of its grace,
The softness that was more than sight,
The breast a marriage bed.
She beckoned to me with her hands,
Which glimmered clear and white;
48
Was like an awful Queen's commands,
Compelling, infinite.
And on her half-averted face
Crowned with its golden locks of light,
My eyes enamoured fed;
I owned the glamour of its grace,
The softness that was more than sight,
The breast a marriage bed.
I moved unconscious to the snare
Which would have drawn an angel down,
And felt her glowing breath;
I watched her shoulders shining bare
From fading autumn's foliage brown,
Nor knew that lovely death.
I marked the moulding of her hips,
The wave of warm delicious teats
Fluctuant to and fro;
I longed to set my thirsty lips
In passion on those bosom beats,
And clasp that heaven below.
Which would have drawn an angel down,
And felt her glowing breath;
I watched her shoulders shining bare
From fading autumn's foliage brown,
Nor knew that lovely death.
I marked the moulding of her hips,
The wave of warm delicious teats
Fluctuant to and fro;
I longed to set my thirsty lips
In passion on those bosom beats,
And clasp that heaven below.
Ah, though the semblance of a skull
Rolled from the flutter of her feet,
And settled at my side;
Yet, in a rapture deep and dull,
I sought that fond forbidden sweet
In her voluptuous pride.
But, as I murmured Jesus' name
And signed the signing of the Cross,
The beauty turned to blight;
I saw a loathsome thing of shame,
A shape of horror, writhe and toss
Down to its native night.
Rolled from the flutter of her feet,
And settled at my side;
Yet, in a rapture deep and dull,
I sought that fond forbidden sweet
In her voluptuous pride.
But, as I murmured Jesus' name
And signed the signing of the Cross,
The beauty turned to blight;
I saw a loathsome thing of shame,
A shape of horror, writhe and toss
Down to its native night.
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