Some deadly serpent or foul basilisk
Sunning its scales, called kingly, in the mire.
Strike, O my lover! I will drag thee down
Into mine own unending pain and hate
To be one devil more upon the earth.—
Come! ye my serpents, wrap his bosom round
With your entangling leprosy! And me,
Let me assume the belovéd limber shape,
The crested head, the jewelled eyes of death,
And sinuous sinewy glitter of serpenthood,