T. R. Smith, comp. Poetica Erotica: Rare and Curious Amatory Verse. 1921–22.
The Kiss of Consummation
By George Sterling (18691926)(1921) LO! Thou has granted us for Thee a name, | |
But never, Lord, shall there be name for this | |
The storm and sacrament of love’s abyss; | |
Nor shall the mind conceive nor man’s tongue frame | |
Nor Music in her farthest flight proclaim | 5 |
The tale of that intolerable bliss | |
When breathless lips meet in the final kiss, | |
And mouth on mouth melts to incarnate flame. | |
When, lest the astounding racks of bliss destroy | |
The body with its ecstasy alive,— | 10 |
The maddened flesh grown infinite with joy, | |
Peace sends her Lethe to the reeling brain, | |
Ere the inexorable flame revive | |
And Love that slew sound trumpets o’er the slain. | |