Page:Songs from Vagabondia (1897).djvu/57

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“For I have been wife for the stomach’s sake, And I know whereof I say;A harlot is sold for a passing slake,But a wife is sold for aye.
“Body and soul for a lifetime sell,And the price of the sale shall beThat you shall be harlot and slave as wellUntil Death set you free.”

LAURANA’S SONG. for “a lady of Venice.”

Who’ll have the crumpled pieces of a heart?Let him take mine! Who’ll give his whole of passion for a part,And call’t divine?Who’ll have the soiled remainder of desire?Who’ll warm his fingers at a burnt-out fire?Who’ll drink the lees of love, and cast i’ the mireThe nobler wine?
Let him come here, and kiss me on the mouth,And have his will!Love dead and dry as summer in the South When winds are stillAnd all the leafage shrivels in the heat!Let him come here and linger at my feetTill he grow weary with the over-sweet,And die, or kill.

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