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LYSIS, by                    
First Line: Now go, white body, into the night
Last Line: Their laugh is brief.


MEND THE CHAIN

Now go, white body, into the night,
Go softly while the mind is sleeping,
Go, sick with fasting, down the white
Ladderless ramparts of its keeping.

And when at last desire is gone,
Then creeping with ague, turn to find
Your way back in the paling dawn
To the thin whip of the horrified mind.

CHAIN INTO CLOUD
Step lightly
With great power
Among the shards
Of lotus leaf.

Bleed whitely
The last hour --
As sweet as nards,
As deep as grief --

Fold nightly,
Lotus flower,
Above the bards:
Their laugh is brief.





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