The Magnificent Stranger

Ah yes! I'd willingly risk my life,
and my very soul,
if I could consummate my desire
to possess the Magnificent Stranger
with her eyes of black musk,
her hindquarters of amber and ruby,
her thighs of pink pearl
and her breasts of bronze!

For she truly deserves
to be numbered among the generously-hipped
harem girls of the Great Emir of Mamounia
Harun al-Rashid.

She is the life force in my body,
the object of all my longing looks
and the orchard of my spirit!

She is more harmonious
that King David's harp
and more moving to behold
than Abla, the virgin
with the sumptuous buttocks;
she is superior in charm
to all the girls of Arabia
and of Turkey and Persia,
and of India and China,
so superior that, if she weren't
of a peaceful disposition,
she could lift up with her bare hands
all the tribes of Arabia
and knock their heads together,
just as her buttocks bump together,
when she walls
with her head held high
and her mind mad with excitement!

No gazelle
can compare with her
and no wild bird
can equal her animal grace,
her passion or her beauty!

I remember still
the first time
I saw her on the street,
when my heart leapt
in my breast
like a young buck!

Yes, I remember that instantly
I put my fingers to my lips
and blew her
a kiss
melodious as a rose of Baghdad!

Ah! What marvelous dreams I have
of her!

Dreams where, I confess, I grab her
by her black hair,
and carry her away with me
and make her mount up behind me
on my blue charger,
dreams where I take her away with me to that country
where nights of love are
brighter, yes, more dazzling
than day,
where an eternally fragrant breeze
wafts without cease!

It's certain that if I consummated my dream,
I would pass in the eyes of the crowd
as a dangerous ravisher
of young girls,
and thus as someone wicked beyond belief!

But, after all,
those in love have a special dispensation
from the Almighty
because they may be moved to rash actions!

For they only want
the Best for their Beloved
and they only seek
to make her breast grow with pleasure
under the power of their passionate breath!

FROM THE COLLECTION OF POEMS "LA MAJESTUEUSE INCONNUE"

PUBLISHED BY THE EDITIONS ENCRES VIVES, FRANCE, SEPTEMBER 2008