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.