John And Salome

Black-haired and garbed in long black garments, John
With hand revulsed and eyes that ache with hate,
Equal in height with her, a dagger-thrust
Between them divides from him her raging lust,
Lust in her naked breasts that have two eyes.
Lust in her flesh, the flesh he looks upon,
Lust that makes her whole body undulate,
Lust on her lips; the lust that never dies,
Between the hollow of her breasts, a sign
Sinister of that hell that lives within
Her limbs that long for him; her mouth like wine.
Wine, that she gives to spirits more malign
Than hers. O the seven devils that make her sin
The one great Sin that never is forgiven
Between the heaven that's hell, the hell that's heaven!
Virginless Virgin and a virile man,
What is there common betwixt you in the world?
His curses fell on her: there's not a span
Between his life and death; the gates of the Tomb
Are flung wide open and a serpent's curled
Around the Virgin of the aching Womb!