| T. R. Smith, comp. Poetica Erotica: Rare and Curious Amatory Verse. 1921–22. | | | | The Awakening | | By Francis Saltus Saltus (1849–1889) |
| | (From Dreams after Sunset, 1891)
HER arms lie bare about his neck, and still | |
| In dream, her lips half open with a sigh | |
| As though to woo her dream some sweet reply. | |
| All slowly her enthrallèd senses fill, | |
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| As valley waters from a mountain rill | 5 |
| Swollen by storm. Her bosom’d treasures lie | |
| Encircled by his arms, and still sweep by | |
| The swelling tide into the Deep’s deep will. | |
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| And he, too, dreams—in Love’s night-hidden day— | |
| Until the shallows, murmuring, rise and leap, | 10 |
| And lap the spirit within that sweet clay | |
| Against his breast. Then lips that trysting keep, | |
| Unconsciously, nearer and closer lay | |
| Till sudden kisses burst the bonds of sleep. | | | | |
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