I dreamed of a jungle far away
Where the odor of musk fills the languid air,
Where goldenly ferments in fecund decay
A glowing flora exotic and rare.
A tiger I was among tigresses there
Whose bodies in slow swooning rapture sway;
A tiger I was—from our poisonous lair
Sounds weird and strange filled the dying day.
We were fevered to the marrow by the heat of the night,
And the moonless darkness around us shone bright
With the lurid gleam of phosphorent eyes.
In the distance the thunder growled deep and low,
And great hot drops like tears large and slow
Voluptuously fell from the great black skies.
II.
I dreamed of a worn-cut reprobate world,
Into which I was born, a prophet and seer;
Before my eyes Doubt in trembling recoil'd,
And my uplifted hand made Heaven appear.
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