The Dancing Serpent

Dear indolent, I love to see,

In your body bright,

How like shimmering silk the skin

Reflects the light !

On the deep ocean of your hair

Where perfume laves,

Odorous and vagabond sea

Of blue and brown waves,

Like a vessel awakening

When morning winds rise

My dreaming soul begins to sail

Toward remote skies.

Your two eyes that neither sweetness

Nor bitterness hold

Are two chilly gems mingled of

Iron and gold.

When you walk in rhythm, lovely

With abandonment,

You seem to be swayed by a wand,

A dancing serpent.

Your child's head under the burden

Of your indolence

Sways as delicately as a

Young elephant's,

And your body bends and straightens

Like a slender ship

That, plunging and rolling, lets the

Yards in water dip.

When, like a stream by thawing of

Glaciers made replete,

The water of your mouth rises

Up to your teeth,

I drink a Bohemian wine,

Powerful and tart,

A liquid sky that sows its stars

Within my heart !