XI
Crown me with poppy and hibiscus! crown
These brows with nightshade, monkshood and vervain!
Let us anoint us with the unguents brown
That waft our wizard bodies to the plain
Where in the circle of unholy stones
The unconsecrated Sabbath is at height;
Where the grim goat rattling his skulls and bones
Makes music that dissolves the dusk of night
Into a ruddy fervour from the abyss
Such as I see (when cunning can surprise)
Our Argus foe and give us leave to kiss
Within your deep, your damned, your darling eyes.
Ay! to the Sabbath where the crowned worm
Exults, with twisted yard and slime-cold sperm.
These brows with nightshade, monkshood and vervain!
Let us anoint us with the unguents brown
That waft our wizard bodies to the plain
Where in the circle of unholy stones
The unconsecrated Sabbath is at height;
Where the grim goat rattling his skulls and bones
Makes music that dissolves the dusk of night
Into a ruddy fervour from the abyss
Such as I see (when cunning can surprise)
Our Argus foe and give us leave to kiss
Within your deep, your damned, your darling eyes.
Ay! to the Sabbath where the crowned worm
Exults, with twisted yard and slime-cold sperm.
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