Possession

Around my neck her soft arms twine,My kisses fleck her bosom's snow,Her breath intoxicates like wine,And sends the blood's imperious flowMantling across my eyes; I knowAt last that she is wholly mine.And I am hers. Each pulse of meBeats red rebellion, and each veinSwells with an overwhelming seaOf sad, glad, pleasurable painPervading every sense, my brainThrobs with a mad intensity.Passing through realms of star and cloud,Scaling the mountains of the moon,My soul ascends, my body bowedO'er her fair form in seeming swoon,Unstrung by Love's almighty tune,Reels far below; sensations crowdUpon sensations, like the wavesFollow waves shorewards, so they beatUpon my being; each one pavesThe way for its successor's feetTo follow faster, till with heatMade faint, they trip among the gravesOf former joys; confused they fallDead 'mid dead ashes scattered there.Earthbound once more, and stripped of allIllusions, through the breathless airMy soul sinks slowly back, awareOf waiting Sleep's incorporate pall.