Classic and Contemporary Poetry
SOULS IN THE BALANCE: 2. STELLA MALIGNA, by ARTHUR WILLIAM SYMONS Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: My little slave Last Line: The miracle of the secret rose. Subject(s): Soul | ||||||||
My little slave! Wouldst thou escape me? Only in the grave. I will be poison to thee, honey-sweet, And, my poison having tasted, Thou shalt be delicately wasted, Yet shalt thou live by that delicious death Thou has drunken from my breath, Thou didst with my kisses eat. I will be thy desire, and thou shalt flee me, Thy enemy, and thou shalt seek: My strength is to be weak, And if through tears, not through thy tears, thou see me, Beware, for of my kisses if thou tire, Not of my tears, Not of my tears shalt thou put off desire Before the end of years. What wouldst thou of me, little slave? my heart? Nay, be content, here are my arms around thee, Be thou content that I have found thee, And that I shall not suffer thee depart. Ask nothing more of me. Have I not given thee more than thou canst measure? Take thou thy fill of pleasure. Exult that thou art mine: think what it is To be without my kiss; Not to have known me is to know not love. Think, to have known me not! Heart may indeed from heart remove, Body by body may not be forgot. Thou hast been mine: ask nothing more of me: My heart is not for thee. Child, leave me then my heart; I hold it in a folded peace apart, I hold it for my own. There, in the quietness of dreams, it broods Above untroubled moods, No man hath been so near me as to have known. The rest is thine: ah, take The gift I have to give, my body, lent For thy unsatisfied content, For thy insatiable desire's compelling, And let me for my pleasure make For my own heart a lonely dwelling. Thou wilt not? Thou wilt summon sorrow From morrow unto endless morrow? Thou wilt endure unto the uttermost? Ah! little slave, my slave, Thou shalt endure until desire be lost In the achievement of the grave. Thou shalt endure, and I, in dreams, behold, Within my paradise of gold, Thy heart's blood flowering for my peace; And thy passion shall release The secret light that in the lily glows, The miracle of the secret rose. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE CRUEL FALCON by ROBINSON JEFFERS THE WHOLE SOUL by PHILIP LEVINE I KNOW MY SOUL by CLAUDE MCKAY HONORING THE SAND; IN MEMORY OF JOSEPH CAMPBELL by ROBERT BLY THE CHINESE PEAKS; FOR DONALD HALL by ROBERT BLY THE LIFE OF TOWNS: TOWN OF THE EXHUMATION by ANNE CARSON NERVES by ARTHUR WILLIAM SYMONS |
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