Band

Clark Ashton Smith
BOND

By the red seal redoubled of that kiss
When thy lips parted softly to my own
Ere the sun sank from doomed Poseidonis;

By nights of searing ecstasy and moan;
The night-wet bosoms in Pompeii bared,
And the pale breasts and limbs in Lesbos known;

By dreams and deities and dolors shared
Before the Olympian glory passed from Greece;
By sharp and secret raptures that we dared

In Druid towers of ocean-founded Ys;
By every cup of wine in Naishapur
We drank by turns even to the purple lees;

By the dark Sabbats, vowed to Lucifer,
Making us one before his muffled throne
In rites of sorceress and sorcerer;

By the sealed ways no prophet has foreshown,
Wheron our lips shall meet, our footsteps go:—
By these, by these I claim thee for mine own...

Even as I have claimed thee long ago.

"Bond" at "The Eldritch Dark", The Sanctum of Clark Ashton Smith