Until my mouth was pressed upon her burning mouth
In a kiss most terrible.... Oh, was it pride, or shame
Unending, without name, or ecstasy, or pain
Or desperate desire? Alas! I cannot tell,
Save that it pierced my trembling soul and body with fire.
For, while her soft lips clove to mine in love, she drove
A flaming blade of steel into my breast, and I,
Rent with a bitter cry, slid from her side and fell
Clutching in dumb despair the dark unbraided hair
My passion had despoiled; while she, like serpent coiled,