Page:Stars of the Desert.djvu/151

 Yet as the starlight fell on his long, lithe grace, The vivid and tender beauty of his face, I could have prayed that the night should never cease And cursed the rosy morning that brought release.

Over the rocks he would swing me, to and fro, Where the white surf foamed a thousand feet below, Would smile and murmur, "I will not loose thee—quite, This graceless body of mine needs thine to-night."

Locked in his hut, through the ardent heats of June, He would not allay my thirst, by night or noon, Saying, "If water and wine be held from thee More eagerly willst thou drink my lips and me."

He pinned my lower lip to the lip above, "Lest thou in my absence utter words of love." With pointed shells he pricked on my breast his name, "That thou may'st keep the stamp of thy love and shame."

What cared I? In the joy of passion's blindness Little I recked of kindness or unkindness. Only now, when he leaves me in lonely peace, My torment begins because his tortures cease.

Never will any freshness of thine, O sea, Allay this endless fever alight in me. He could assuage with his cruel, tender hands, But alas, he neither heeds nor understands. 139