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(From Lot’s Wife, 1890)
NOW Lot, the son of Haran, dwelt within | |
| The city’s walls and loved its many ways; | |
| But he was pure of heart unto his praise, | |
| And much deplored all God-defying sin. | |
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| He lived estranged from the licentious throng, | 5 |
| Doting upon the fairness of his wife, | |
| Proud of the blameless quiet of his life, | |
| A righteous man and unashamed of song. * * * * * | |
| Now Ilcah, Lot’s fair wife, in Sodom born, | |
| Was in her sullied heart adverse to him; | 10 |
| Because his eyes by labor had grown dim, | |
| She suffered by his love in silent scorn. | |
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| For he was like old dreamers in the night, | |
| Loving to doze and ponder on his herds, | |
| And even his infrequent passion words | 15 |
| Were tame unto her, offering no delight. | |
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| She, in the blooming May-time of her years, | |
| With passionate eyes and lustrous veils of hair, | |
| Yearned for love’s ecstasy and its despair, | |
| A love of laughter, ravishment and tears. | 20 |
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| And she, grown weary of Lot’s grave renown, | |
| Would seek the city’s heart on festal days, | |
| And strut like zonahs on its marble ways, | |
| For she adored a man within the town, | |
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| One whom her girlish spirit idolized, | 25 |
| A valorous chief, a most athletic man, | |
| With mighty limbs, known as the lord Suran, | |
| Who for his famed virility was prized. | |
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| And he had led her to Vul’s temple, where, | |
| Ravished by his bright armor and the glance | 30 |
| Of conquering eyes, in a voluptuous trance | |
| She veiled his breast with all her loosened hair. | |
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| And while the priests officiating cried: | |
| “Give to great Vul, oh women! all your charms!” | |
| She lay amort for love within his arms, | 35 |
| And on his perfumed bosom softly sighed. | |
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| And he, for she was ravenous to learn, | |
| Taught her the mysteries and the holy rites | |
| That steeped her bosom in unknown delights, | |
| Strange pleasures, and new minglements that burn! | 40 |
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| And she revered the aroma of his beard, | |
| Giving her radiant body for his play, | |
| And in the temple in the hot midday, | |
| Alone, to tempt his vigor she appeared. | |
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| Veiled to the eyes, but amorous of the spot, | 45 |
| Loving the sensual magic of the gloom, | |
| Seeking sweet impious bonds that foster doom, | |
| Her heart made merry by her scorn of Lot. | |
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| Her limbs were maddened by strong Suran’s touch; | |
| She sang to him in passionate unrest; | 50 |
| His curlèd head was warm upon her breast; | |
| His flanks were fruitful, and she loved him much. | |
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| Ay, with such adoration that, to fill | |
| His lecherous eyes with raptures held so dear, | |
| She would have braved cold death without a fear, | 55 |
| If, following, Suran would have loved her still! | |
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| To please his whim at the great Autumn feast, | |
| Held to Val’s glory on the dying year, | |
| Rosy and nude, fair Ilcah did appear, | |
| Surrendering her beauty to the priest. | 60 |
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| Ay, in the holy vaults, for Suran’s sake, | |
| She learned the arcana of the zonahs there, | |
| Slumbering with women amorous and bare, | |
| So that he, too, in pleasure might partake. | |
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| And she in beauty through the temple trod, | 65 |
| Warm with her loves and flushed by flowers and wine, | |
| Hailing her prostitution as divine | |
| And most delightful, worthy of her god. | |
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| And Lot had honored her with manly trust, | |
| And let the days pass dreaming of his herds, | 70 |
| Counting his kine and listening to his birds, | |
| Serenely unsuspicious and most just. | |
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