AMANITAS Atropin for muscarine -- (Hey, my girl, but the woods are jolly Where the deadly Amanitas lean!) But what is the antidote for folly? Ipicac for the gasping fool -- (Watch the swell of that warbler's throat!) Then a dose of valerian cool, But what is true love's antidote? Whisper: Ebb is implicit in surge, Wisdom hatches a serpent, my dove; Folly is folly's only purge, And loving, the antidote for love. PHALLUS IMPUDICUS They bear another thought than ours, Shaped by the pallid touch of death In intricate, unscented bowers, Cool from his breath. They disregard our verities. They are not children of our sun. Innocence and obscenities On them are one. A flower is our cousin-german; By these pale strangers we are held -- Bending their secret to determine -- Rapt and repelled. We have no ear for what they say. They bear the mystery of God Along the ages, by a way We have not trod. |