T. R. Smith, comp. Poetica Erotica: Rare and Curious Amatory Verse. 1921–22.
Bridegroom
By Katherine Wisner McCluskey(From The Pagan, 1920) PITY, O Bridegroom, | |
The perilous joy of the bride! | |
In the searching lights of her eyes, | |
In the fugitive flush of her cheeks, | |
In the fainting pink of her palm, | 5 |
In the speed-mad pulse of her wrist, | |
In the throb and flight of her heart, | |
In the lifting foam of her breasts, | |
In her pale, excited smile,— | |
A dim flame, blown in a wind,— | 10 |
See the perilous happiness, | |
The dizzy, peering happiness, | |
Hid in the blood of your bride. | |
Eve alone | |
Of the generations of women, | 15 |
Lacked the perilous joy of the bride. | |
Fully innocent, fully ignorant, | |
Gurgled her sweet child-laughter. | |
But to her daughters, | |
Down to the wayward moderns, | 20 |
Whispers and echoes what she learned | |
From giving her secret self, | |
From giving her red rose heart, | |
From giving her cream rose breast, | |
From giving her crystal dreams,— | 25 |
Dividing her trinity, | |
Her soul and her flesh and her mind, | |
With Adam. | |
So began, O Bridegroom, | |
The perilous happiness, | 30 |
A bubble, ready to break, | |
A sphere made of colors alone, | |
Your bride with her searching eyes | |
Holds out to your snatching hands. | |