T. R. Smith, comp. Poetica Erotica: Rare and Curious Amatory Verse. 1921–22.
Farewell
By Joseph Kling(To D——.) (From A Pagan Anthology, 1918) |
I HAVE placed you | |
| In the hollow of my hand | |
| Little toy-woman, | |
| And I gaze at you disdainfully | |
| Or throw you lightly aside … | 5 |
| Or half-shut my eyes, | |
| And poetize dreamily | |
| About your dainty beauty … | |
| Or put my mouth | |
| Close to yours | 10 |
| So that I see only | |
| The rose-red of your cheek | |
| And feel the soft warmth | |
| Of your lips … | |
| Or whisper half-audibly | 15 |
| Of the passion that makes | |
| My blood a tide of fire … | |
| But after all, | |
| You are in the hollow of my hand,— | |
| I the master, | 20 |
| And you the marionette … * * * | |
| My soul craves | |
| A nobler happiness | |
| Than passionate kisses | |
| And the feel of soft flesh | 25 |
| In my fingers … * * * | |
| Love is a lie … | |
| Any man-animal | |
| Whose lips | |
| Are at your throat, | 30 |
| Whose hands are eager | |
| For your breasts | |
| Will drivel with lying tongue | |
| About endless love … * * * | |
| Aristocrats or gum-chewers, | 35 |
| They purr, and smirk, and sing-song questioningly, | |
| Gaze at each other obliquely, | |
| Body to body pressed … * * * | |
| It is best to live alone, | |
| Breathe alone, | 40 |
| Dream alone, | |
| Alone with one’s sacred self, | |
| One’s reveries, | |
| And memories, | |
| And heavenly fantasies … | 45 |
| Here I sit and think: | |
| The world of women | |
| Will fret me no more; | |
| And an hour from now, | |
| Or to-morrow, it may be, | 50 |
| I will be talking to another | |
| Pretty one | |
| And every nerve in my body | |
| Will exult as though | |
| Inebriate with wine … | 55 |
| Morbleu! What is this | |
| Insanity of man’s flesh! | |