See what a mass of gems the city
Upon her broad live bosom ! row on
Rubies and emeralds and amethysts glow.
See ! that huge circle like a necklace,
With thousands of bold eyes to heaven, and
The golden stars to dim the lamps below,
And in the mirror of the mire I
The moon has left her image unawares.
That's the great town at night :
I see her breasts,
Pricked out with lamps they stand like huge black towers.
I think they move !
I hear her panting breath.
And that's her head where the tiara rests.
And in her brain, through lanes as dark as death,
Men creep like thoughts . . .
The lamps are like pale flowers.
Taken from the New Adelphi Library edition of 'Selected Poems' by Lord Arthur Douglas Published by Martin Secker
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