Emblems Of Love by Lascelles Abercrombie
page 165 of 217 (76%)
page 165 of 217 (76%)
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_Holofernes_.
Slave, dost thou hear me? Come!-- I marvel, room for such a paltering mood Should be within thy mind, now so nearly Deified with the first sense of my love. [_A Eunuch comes in_. _Holofernes_. Wine! The mightiest wine my sutlers have; Wine with the sun's own grandeur in it, and all The wildness of the earth conceiving Spring From the sun's golden lust: wine for us twain! And when thou hast brought it, burn anear my bed Storax and cassia; and let wealth be found To cover my bed with such strife of colour, Crimson and tawny and purple-inspired gold, That eyes beholding it may take therefrom Splendid imagination of the strife Of love with love's implacable desire. _Judith (still kneeling)_. I must lean on thee now, my God! A weight Of pitiable weakness thou must bear And move as it were thine own strength; tell my heart How not to sicken in abomination, Show me the way to loathe this vile man's rage, Now close to seize me into the use of his pleasure, With the loathing that is terrible delight. So that not fainting, but refresht and astonisht And strangely spirited and divinely angry |
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