Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, ARRACK, by FRANCIS SALTUS SALTUS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

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First Line: I see a sultry land of palm and rice
Last Line: And dance with cobras on nude bosoms coiled!
Subject(s): Goddesses & Gods; Memory; Mythology; Night; Bedtime


I see a sultry land of palm and rice
Haunted by upas and malarial dust,
Whene'er against the chilling world unjust
I drink thy fire, oblivion to entice.

Vistas of pagan gods of strange device,
Mysterious worship and atrocious lust,
Arise and linger, on my memory thrust
With sounds of gongs and burnings of sweet spice.

I see in Java's forests, when the night
Burns all alive with stars, the savage priests
Draining thy fire, with fragrant essence oiled;
I see each motion weird, each awful rite
When by thee drunk they sacrifice fell beasts
And dance with cobras on nude bosoms coiled!





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