370
THE SYMBOLIST MOVEMENT
(And woman's body obeys that ancient claim)Behold me in my shivering starry shame,I die!The horror of my virginityDelights me, and I would envelop meIn the terror of my tresses, that, by night,Inviolate reptile, I might feel the whiteAnd glimmering radiance of thy frozen fire,Thou that art chaste and diest of desire,White night of ice and of the cruel snow!Eternal sister, my lone sister, loMy dreams uplifted before thee! now, apart,So rare a crystal is my dreaming heart,I live in a monotonous land alone,And all about me lives but in mine ownImage, the idolatrous mirror of my pride,Mirroring this Hérodiade diamond-eyed.I am indeed alone, O charm and curse!
Nurse.O lady, would you die then?
Herodiade.No, poor nurse;Be calm, and leave me; prithee, pardon me,But, ere thou go, close to the casement; see
