The Hermaphrodite
translated by: Jethro Bithell
NAKED, the Hermaphrodite is stretched to muse
With writhing reptile limbs upon her bed;
The jasmine garlanding her short-haired head
And unremitting dreams her green eyes use;
Her breasts erectile and elastic thews
Excite the neighbouring parts that cannot wed:
A superhuman, exquisite monster bred
In higher skies where forms more subtle fuse.
In her thin, lustreless hair perversity gropes.
Brother of evenings lost down fathomless slopes,
A velvet shadow twists her mouth unsated;
And her pale flesh she trails with stinging love
Under the pagan sun that bred her of
Thy golden froth, O beauty exasperated!