T. R. Smith, comp. Poetica Erotica: Rare and Curious Amatory Verse. 1921–22.
A Womans Death Wound
By Helen Hunt Jackson (18301885)(American, 1895) IT left upon her tender flesh no trace. | |
The murderer is safe. As swift as light | |
The weapon fell, and, in the summer night, | |
Did scarce the silent, dewy air displace; | |
’Twas but a word. A blow had been less base. | 5 |
Like dumb beast branded by an iron white | |
With heat, she turned in blind and helpless flight, | |
But then remembered, and with piteous face, | |
Came back. Since then, the world has nothing missed | |
In her in voice, or smile; but she—each day | 10 |
She counts until her dying be complete. | |
One moan she makes, and ever doth repeat: | |
“O lips which I have loved and kissed and kissed, | |
Did I deserve to die this bitterest way?” | |