Thy mouth is like a crimson orchid-flower
Whence perfume and whence poison rise unseen
To moons aswim in iris or in green,
Or mix with morning in an eastern bower.
Thou shouldst have known, in amarathine isles,
The sunsets hued like fire of frankincense,
And noontides fraught with far-borne redolence,
The mingled spicery of purple miles.
Thy breasts, where blood and molten marble flow,
Thy warm white limbs, thy loins of tropic snow—
These, these, by which desire is grown divine,
Were made for dreams in mystic palaces,
For love and sleep and slow voluptuousness,
And summer seas afoam like foaming wine.
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Comments
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A very nice poem to read.
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Superb
This sonnet is Smith's translation of Charles Baudelaire's "Exotic Perfume". Smith dropped out of school in the 7th grade, but taught himself both French and Spanish. He once turned down a Guggenheim Fellowship. It was rumored that he read entire Oxford English Dictionary cover to cover! -
Exotique
This is awesome verse. So much imagery to take in. Recalls the grandeur of Keats, Shelley and Poe.
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