Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, ANGUISH, by STEPHANE MALLARME



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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

ANGUISH, by             Poem Explanation         Poet's Biography
First Line: I come not to conquer your body tonight, o creature
Last Line: In terror of dying while sleeping alone.


I come not to conquer your body tonight, O creature
In whom the sins of a nation stream, nor under
The cureless tedium which my kisses pour
To burrow a sad tempest in your impure hair:

I ask of your bed the deep sleep with no dreams
Flitting under unknown drapes of remorse
Which you, after your dark deceits, can enjoy,
You who know more about oblivion than a corpse:

For gnawing at my ingrained morality, Vice
Has marked its sterility in me as in you;
But while there exists in your breast of stone

A heart which the tooth of no crime can wound,
Haunted by my shroud I flee, wan, undone,
In terror of dying while sleeping alone.





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