"LOVE LIES BLEEDING"

[Aleister Crowley]

Published in the International

New York, New York, U.S.A.

January 1918

(page 14)

Curled on itself for love of its own mould,

The siren shell lies open to the globe

Of Godhead that rays forth with purple probe

Light of fierce force, a galaxy of gold;

And by the spell whereon his fingers fold

The murex blood beams oozing from the lobe

Whose delicate blushes modesty disrobe

The virgin Venus that her nymphs uphold!

The sand is still like star-dust in my hair;

The sea is still like slumber in my brain;

The sun still burns my face—and on the air

(While in the Rose and crimson Thorn makes merry)

Come nightingales—and bells—and through their strain

The vision of the towers of Glastonbury!