Her eyes like obsidian,
With a mouth of coral red,
Her hair; a black thunder cloud,
Looms about her lordly head.
Around her breasts are clasped
Her talon bearing hands,
Her silken, snowy back
Like a marble column stands.
She is a timeless being
Made of flesh and burning steel.
Hers is the whole world to crush
Beneath her ivory heel.
Breathe her scent in a flower,
Taste her passion in the sea.
There her salty-sweet kisses
Set imprisoned spirits free.
Her lips are poised and ready
To smite silence with her song;
A thundering slow discord
That will put to flight the throng.
Her limbs, in naked splendour
Laugh all that is chaste to scorn.
All gods have been forgotten
Since the day that she was born.
Their temples are as byways
Whereupon her bare feet tread.
Their vestments are as matting
On the ground before her spread.
The seas might call her sister,
The winds dare not speak her name,
Though stars are born and perish,
She will always be the same.
How terrible her beauty!
She is madness given form,
A cold and spectral goddess;
First begotten of the storm!
A denizen of shadows
Who shuns the daylight hours;
In her are manifested
All primordial powers.
She is one with the tempest,
Veiling the moon’s face in gray;
All the gods would possess her
Had she less power than they.
O iridescent beauty,
In perpetual increase!
The thought of you brings solace
And the sight of you release.
O exquisite abandon:
Your blessing and your creed,
Whereby all slaves and sinners
Are forgiven and are freed.
Yes! Pleasure is your blessing
But pains follow your delights
For those who in your chamber
Seek to spend their sleepless nights.
You are my one desire
And I, enthralled by your sight,
Have sworn undying love for
The antithesis of light!
Each woman is your daughter,
A devotee in your train.
While I, for you would suffer
An eternity of pain.
Endless years of torture
As nothing to me would seem
Were I to hear your laughter
And behold your dark eyes gleam.
For betwixt pains and pleasures
Lie illusions and lost dreams,
Shadows upon deep waters
And gossamer soft moon beams.
