The yellow book: an illustrated quarterly (1.1894)

214 Retkence in Literature

Let us listen for one moment:

" By che ravenous teeth that have smitten
Through the kisses that blossom and bud,
By the lips intertwisted and bitten

Till the foam has a savour of blood,
By the pulse as it rises and falters,

By the hands as they slacken and strain,
I adjure thee, respond from thine altars,
Our Lady of Pain.

As of old when the world's heart was lighter,
Through thy garments the grace of thee glows,

The white wealth of thy body made whiter
By the blushes of amorous blows,

And seamed with sharp lips and fierce fingen,
And branded by kisses that bruise ;

When all shall be gone that now lingers,
Ah, what shall we lose ?

Thou wert fair in thy fearless old fashion,

And thy limbs are as melodies yet,
And move to the music of passion

With lithe and lascivious regret.
What ailed us, O gods, to desert you

For creeds that refuse and restxain !
Come down and redeem us from virtue,
Our Lady of Pain."

This was twenty-eight years ago ; and still the poetry Iives. At
first sight it would seem asthough the desirable reticence,uponwhich
we have been insisting, were as yet unnecessary to immortality.
A quarter of a Century has passed, it might be argued, and the

verss