T. R. Smith, comp. Poetica Erotica: Rare and Curious Amatory Verse. 1921–22.

From “The Songs of Bilitis”CXIX. Intimacies

By Pierre Louÿs (1870–1925)


(1894. Translated from the French by Horace Manchester Brown. 1904) WHY am I become Lesbian, O Bilitis, thou askest me? But what player of the flute is not a Lesbian in some degree? I am poor; I have no bed; I lie with her who wishes me, and I thank her with that which I have.	1
When we are small we already dance naked; and what dances? Thou knowest, my dear one: the twelve desires of Aphrodite. We look each upon the other, we compare the beauty of our nakedness, and we find it beautiful.	2
During the long night we are warmed by the pleasure of the lookers-on; but our ardor is not feigned, and so strongly do we feel it, that sometimes, behind the doors, one of us may embrace a companion who consents.	3
How do we make love with a man who is rude to us? He takes us as he would a woman, and leaves us before the orgasm. Thou, thou art a woman and knowest what I mean. Thou canst take it as for thyself.	4