| |
| O BROTHERS mine, take care! Take care! | |
| The great white witch rides out to-night. | |
| Trust not your prowess nor your strength, | |
| Your only safety lies in flight; | |
| For in her glance there is a snare, | 5 |
| And in her smile there is a blight. | |
| |
| The great white witch you have not seen? | |
| Then, younger brothers mine, forsooth, | |
| Like nursery children you have looked | |
| For ancient hag and snaggle-tooth; | 10 |
| But no, not so; the witch appears | |
| In all the glowing charms of youth. | |
| |
| Her lips are like carnations, red, | |
| Her face like new-born lilies, fair, | |
| Her eyes like ocean waters, blue, | 15 |
| She moves with subtle grace and air, | |
| And all about her head there floats | |
| The golden glory of her hair. | |
| |
| But though she always thus appears | |
| In form of youth and mood of mirth, | 20 |
| Unnumbered centuries are hers, | |
| The infant planets saw her birth; | |
| The child of throbbing Life is she, | |
| Twin sister to the greedy earth. | |
| |
| And back behind those smiling lips, | 25 |
| And down within those laughing eyes, | |
| And underneath the soft caress | |
| Of hand and voice and purring sighs, | |
| The shadow of the panther lurks, | |
| The spirit of the vampire lies. | 30 |
| |
| For I have seen the great white witch, | |
| And she has led me to her lair, | |
| And I have kissed her red, red lips | |
| And cruel face so white and fair; | |
| Around me she has twined her arms, | 35 |
| And bound me with her yellow hair. | |
| |
| I felt those red lips burn and sear | |
| My body like a living coal; | |
| Obeyed the power of those eyes | |
| As the needle trembles to the pole; | 40 |
| And did not care although I felt | |
| The strength go ebbing from my soul. | |
| |
| Oh! she has seen your strong young limbs, | |
| And heard your laughter loud and gay, | |
| And in your voices she has caught | 45 |
| The echo of a far-off day, | |
| When man was closer to the earth; | |
| And she has marked you for her prey. | |
| |
| She feels the old Antaean strength | |
| In you, the great dynamic beat | 50 |
| Of primal passions, and she sees | |
| In you the last besieged retreat | |
| Of love relentless, lusty, fierce, | |
| Love pain-ecstatic, cruel-sweet. | |
| |
| O, brothers mine, take care! Take care! | 55 |
| The great white witch rides out to-night. | |
| O, younger brothers mine, beware! | |
| Look not upon her beauty bright; | |
| For in her glance there is a snare, | |
| And in her smile there is a blight. | 60 |
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