English poem
A Lady's Chamber
by Robert Ervin Howard (1906–1936)
Orchid, jasmine and heliotrope Scent the gloom where the dead men grope.
Silver, ruby-eyed leopards crouch At the carven ends of the silken couch.
A purple mist of a perfume rare Billows and sways, and weights the air.
The pale blue domes of the ceiling rise Gemmed and carved like opium skies— Golden serpents with crystal eyes.
Why should men grow strange and cold, Like a marble heart in a breast of gold?
Their eyes are ice and they look strange tales, They carve the mist with their long jade nails.
Orchid, jasmine and heliotrope Scent the gloom where dead men grope; They have stabbed their hearts with a golden sword And hanged themselves with a silken rope.