A Lady's Chamber
Orchid, jasmine and heliotrope
Scent the gloom where the dead men grope.
Silver, ruby-eyed leopards crouch
At the carven ends of the silken couch.
A purple mist of a perfume rare
Billows and sways, and weights the air.
The pale blue domes of the ceiling rise
Gemmed and carved like opium skies—
Golden serpents with crystal eyes.
Why should men grow strange and cold,
Like a marble heart in a breast of gold?
Their eyes are ice and they look strange tales,
They carve the mist with their long jade nails.
Orchid, jasmine and heliotrope
Scent the gloom where dead men grope;
They have stabbed their hearts with a golden sword
And hanged themselves with a silken rope.
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1930.
The longest-living author of this work died in 1936, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 88 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.
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