The
vision vouchsafed I must never disclose:
'Twere by honour's code unlawful:
I'm afraid I must really hold my tongue,
But, my God! the stench was awful!—
dt
text .
•
note.
•
•
12
It
turns me sick to this very day,
And wofully under the weather
To recall that mixture of rotten greens
And fetid Russia leather.
dt
text .
•
x
13
And
the smells that continued to rise, ye heavens!
They were such as might come from the rifing
Of thirty-six cesspools, and blending the filth
In one malodour stifling....
dt
text .
•
x
14
The
commission of public safety was told
By Saint-Just, he is wrong who supposes
That deadly diseases can ever be cured
By musk and oil of roses.
dt
text .
•
x
15
But
that smell of the future awaiting our land—
I don't care who may blame me—
My nose had not dreamed that such filth could be—
And at last it overcame me.
dt
text .
•
x
16
I
fainted away, and when I awoke
I was still by the goddess, and found me
With my head reclined on her ample breast;
And her ample arms around me.
dt
text .
•
x
17
Her
eyes were blazing, her mouth was aglow,
Her nostrils quivered, and clinging:
To the bard, like a wild bacchante she burst
Into frenzied ecstatic singing:
dt
text .
18
"There's
a king in Thule who treasures a cup
As the dearest thing in his keeping,
And every time he drinks from that cup
The king commences weeping.
dt
text .
19
"And
then he remembers all the wrongs
He has not yet requited.
Why, you yourself to prison, my child,
Might be forcibly invited.
dt
text .
20
"Beware
of that king in Thule, avoid
The North and its lurking dangers;
Police, gendarmes, whole historic school—
You and they are better strangers.
