T. R. Smith, comp. Poetica Erotica: Rare and Curious Amatory Verse. 1921–22.
A Dead Woman
By Vance Thompson (1863–1925)(1899) OPEN swing the doors; the torchesI. | |
| Bicker in the windy night— | |
| Cast strange shadows in the porches, | |
| Down dim alleys in the night. | |
| Come away now—dust and ashes— | 5 |
| Dust to dust and clay to clay— | |
| Stormily the organ crashes— | |
| Dust and ashes—come away. | |
| High the wind snarls and the torches, | |
| Flaring down the blackening night, | 10 |
| Toss grim shadows in the porches | |
| And dim alleys in the night. | |
II. Men looked at you; saw the woman, | |
| Just the eyes and limbs and common | |
| Charm—odor di femmina—that | 15 |
| Draws us all. And only saw that. | |
| One man cared not much for seeming— | |
| Animal red lips and dreaming, | |
| Helpless eyes; great limbs; the value | |
| Of the flesh you wore to pall you, | 20 |
| All that palpitant, sweet vesture— | |
| Caring not for these, he pressed your | |
| Body in the rack, to tear it | |
| Open, till he saw the spirit, | |
| Soul of you, its shame or merit. | 25 |
| First he took your body, woman, | |
| Stained it, smirched it, made it common, | |
| Scarred it with strange loves, flagitious. | |
| Gored it raw with lust; set vicious | |
| Things to heat the eyes; lubricious, | 30 |
| Unclean things to smirk and chatter | |
| In the ears lewd, Paphian matter. | |
| So he made you foul; and eager | |
| Then to see how fared the meagre, | |
| Warped, black, ulcered soul, he started | 35 |
| The great rack wheels. Snapped and parted | |
| All the strings of the flesh raiment | |
| He had fouled. The man for payment | |
| Saw white wings flash as your soul went, | |
| White, white, white, to God’s enrollment. | 40 |
III. They buried you to-night. | |
| He saw the yellow torches blown alight, | |
| Heard the organ’s thunder. | |
| He went away into the confused night, | |
| Full of wonder. | 45 |