| T. R. Smith, comp. Poetica Erotica: Rare and Curious Amatory Verse. 1921–22. | | | | Bridegroom | | By Katherine Wisner McCluskey |
| | (From The Pagan, 1920)
PITY, O Bridegroom, | |
| The perilous joy of the bride! | |
| |
| In the searching lights of her eyes, | |
| In the fugitive flush of her cheeks, | |
| In the fainting pink of her palm, | 5 |
| In the speed-mad pulse of her wrist, | |
| In the throb and flight of her heart, | |
| In the lifting foam of her breasts, | |
| In her pale, excited smile,— | |
| A dim flame, blown in a wind,— | 10 |
| See the perilous happiness, | |
| The dizzy, peering happiness, | |
| Hid in the blood of your bride. | |
| |
| Eve alone | |
| Of the generations of women, | 15 |
| Lacked the perilous joy of the bride. | |
| Fully innocent, fully ignorant, | |
| Gurgled her sweet child-laughter. | |
| But to her daughters, | |
| Down to the wayward moderns, | 20 |
| Whispers and echoes what she learned | |
| From giving her secret self, | |
| From giving her red rose heart, | |
| From giving her cream rose breast, | |
| From giving her crystal dreams,— | 25 |
| Dividing her trinity, | |
| Her soul and her flesh and her mind, | |
| With Adam. | |
| |
| So began, O Bridegroom, | |
| The perilous happiness, | 30 |
| A bubble, ready to break, | |
| A sphere made of colors alone, | |
| Your bride with her searching eyes | |
| Holds out to your snatching hands. | | | | |
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