BRANDED
I have found me a darkling mistress,
Who is all my need and desire;
Her slave in a willing bondage,
I bathe in her opal fire.
She has given me gorgeous dawns
From the rim of her saffron seas;
There is joy in the burning wind
That comes from her fronded keys.
I know the grip of her brilliant days,
And the scorching spell of her nights,
When pagan gods seduce me
With the lure of their heathen rites.
I know the call of her hard, white roads,
The choking heat of her rains,
And I laugh in my soul with God,
At the lash of her hurricanes.
I have dipped in her amethyst bowl,
And painted me splendid dreams,
But I know the clutch of a dreadful fear,
When her crawling jungle screams.
I have felt the kiss of her fever,
That she hides in her tainted breath,
And have heard the roll of her drums,
When they beat their songs of death.
I have trailed with her treacherous spawn,
And sinned with her exiled band;
I am tuned to her siren voice,
And seared with her vicious brand.
I know the taste of her poisoned bread,
I am drunk with her evil wine,
But I am in thrall to her Cross,
Since she marked me with its Sign.