IX
I love you for your cruelty to them;
I love you for your cruelty to me;
I see their blood glittering a diadem
Upon your dazzling brows; my blood I see
Sucked deep into your body, curling round
Like fire in every artery and vein
Massed in your heart, colossal and profound.
I am mad for you to brand me with the stain
Of your own vice. Our souls, a murdering crew
Of itching Mullahs, wallow, dervish-drunk.
Love surges at the pang! Our poisonous dew
Of sweat and kisses blinds us. A mad monk
Kissing fanatically the cross that had
Devoured his vitals is not half as mad!
I love you for your cruelty to me;
I see their blood glittering a diadem
Upon your dazzling brows; my blood I see
Sucked deep into your body, curling round
Like fire in every artery and vein
Massed in your heart, colossal and profound.
I am mad for you to brand me with the stain
Of your own vice. Our souls, a murdering crew
Of itching Mullahs, wallow, dervish-drunk.
Love surges at the pang! Our poisonous dew
Of sweat and kisses blinds us. A mad monk
Kissing fanatically the cross that had
Devoured his vitals is not half as mad!
— 75 —
