CVI VOLUPTUOUSNESS
Mitchell S. (Mitchell Starrett) Buck translation
UPON a white terrace, in the night, they abandoned us, swooning among the roses. The warm perspiration slipped away like tears from our armpits over our breasts. Overwhelming voluptuousness purpled our thrownback heads.
Four captive doves, bathed in four perfumes, fluttered above us in the silence. From their wings, drops of perfume fell upon the naked women. I was covered with the essence of iris.
O lassitude! I rested my cheek upon the belly of a young girl who enveloped herself in the cool of my moist hair. The perfume of her saffroned skin intoxicated my opened mouth. She closed her thighs about my neck.
I slept, but an exhausting dream awakened me: the inyx, bird of nocturnal desires, sang distractedly from afar. I coughed with a shiver. Little by little, a languishing arm like a flower raised itself in the air toward the moon.