I'VE MET YOUR DEATH

I’ve met your death so many times,
And challenged to the fight
That master of white-handed crimes,
Knight-errant of the night.

Fearing to wage an open war,
Disguised and under cover,
Our truest fights have been from far
Between death and your lover.

When weak abed, could you resist
Sickness that would debase
The heart that beats in fevered wrist,
Death’s mask upon your face?

Dark brother of the reigning king,
This secret masque de fer

Throws his shadow on the spring
– Usurper everywhere.

The pale-lipped courage of the coward
Would offer you by stealth
His subtle drugs, though poppy-flowered,
So poisonous to health.

When backs are turned, and friends apart
By superhuman power
I’ll start the pulses of your heart
– Defeat death of his hour.

Face to the wall the unloved head
For the sepulchral wedding,
Out of danger: she is dead
With lilies for her bedding.

But you, who court my daily rival
And all evasions try:
Each half-death meets with a survival –
My love you shall not die:

Source: Oscaria: In Memory of Dorothy Ierne Wilde. Ed. Natalie Clifford Barney. Privately printed, 1951.