T. R. Smith, comp. Poetica Erotica: Rare and Curious Amatory Verse. 1921–22.
Song of the Gay Zonah
By Francis Saltus Saltus (18491889)(From Lot’s Wife, 1890) OH, sweet passer! I am fair, | |
For the lily scents my hair, | |
Made most redolent and glossy by the radiant roses’ oil; | |
My ringed arms are dazzling white, | |
And my kiss is a delight, | 5 |
While the sweet alhenna clusters burn my bosom while I toil. | |
Like my goddess, great Ishtàr, | |
My black glance outshines a star, | |
And my form is warm and wavy, like the palm and the tamar; | |
I have sapphires and rare gems | 10 |
On my mantle’s sacred hems, | |
And the unguents on my haunches come o’er deserts from afar. | |
I hold, hidden in my tent, | |
Drugs of love and ravishment, | |
And a bed where fragrant lilies lie with birdlings’ downy plumes; | 15 |
I hold passion and desire | |
To inspire love’s sleepy fire, | |
And to stir the sudden pulses in soft aromatic glooms! | |
Till the midnight I will sing | |
Unto Nebo, the great king, | 20 |
And my asor’s gentle music will allay thy fevered rest; | |
Thou shalt slumber till my birds | |
Wake to hear my loving words, | |
While I press a thrice-born passion on the marble of my breast. | |
The pure night is waning fast; | 25 |
Oh, my God Yem, unsurpassed! | |
Send me golden lovers many, ay, if only for a span! | |
And, oh passers wise and brave! | |
Be not tempted by yon slave, | |
For my kisses are far sweeter than the kisses of a man! | 30 |