T. R. Smith, comp. Poetica Erotica: Rare and Curious Amatory Verse. 1921–22.
Loving Kindness
By Donald Evans (1884–1921)(Moscow; from Sonnets from the Patagonian, 1918) |
HER flesh was lyrical and sweet to flog, | |
| For the whip blanched her blood, through every vein | |
| Flooded with hate shot a hot flow of pain, | |
| And her screams were muffled by a brackish fog. | |
| He loved her, yet his passion could but fret | 5 |
| Unless he lashed her to an awkward rage— | |
| But when his hand wrote terror on her page | |
| He knew exultant joy of feigned regret. | |
| Theirs was a bond that poured the wine of fear, | |
| And he drained her stiffened limbs with cruel art. | 10 |
| He taught her that all tenderness had fled | |
| Till she would beg the hurt to taste the tear, | |
| And when she bent to kiss her quivering heart | |
| It lit a Chinese candle in his head. | |