| |
I AS a naked man I go | |
| Through the desert sore afraid, | |
| Holding up my head although | |
| I’m as frightened as a maid. | |
| |
| The couching lion there I saw | 5 |
| From barren rocks lift up his eye; | |
| He parts the cactus with his paw, | |
| He stares at me as I go by. | |
| |
| He would follow on my trace | |
| If he knew I was afraid, | 10 |
| If he knew my hardy face | |
| Hides the terrors of a maid. | |
| |
| In the night he rises and | |
| He stretches forth, he snuffs the air; | |
| He roars and leaps along the sand, | 15 |
| He creeps and watches everywhere. | |
| |
| His burning eyes, his eyes of bale, | |
| Through the darkness I can see; | |
| He lashes fiercely with his tail, | |
| He would love to spring at me. | 20 |
| |
| I am the lion in his lair; | |
| I am the fear that frightens me; | |
| I am the desert of despair | |
| And the nights of agony. | |
| |
| Night or day, whate’er befall, | 25 |
| I must walk that desert land, | |
| Until I can dare to call | |
| The lion out to lick my hand. | |
| |
II As a naked man I tread | |
| The gloomy forests, ring on ring, | 30 |
| Where the sun that’s overhead | |
| Cannot see what’s happening. | |
| |
| There I go: the deepest shade, | |
| The deepest silence pressing me; | |
| And my heart is more afraid | 35 |
| Than a maiden’s heart would be. | |
| |
| Every day I have to run | |
| Underneath the demon tree, | |
| Where the ancient wrong is done | |
| While I shrink in agony. | 40 |
| |
| I saw the demon hold a maid | |
| In his arms, and as she, daft, | |
| Whimpered in fear he bent and laid | |
| His lips upon her lips and laughed. | |
| |
| And she beckoned me to run, | 45 |
| And she called for help to me, | |
| And the ancient wrong was done | |
| Which is done eternally. | |
| |
| I am the maiden and the fear; | |
| I am the sunless shade, the strife; | 50 |
| I the demon lips, the sneer | |
| Showing under every life. | |
| |
| I must tread that gloomy way | |
| Until I shall dare to run | |
| And bear the demon with his prey | 55 |
| From the forest to the sun. | |
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