A Psalm to the Best Beloved

Read "A Psalm to the Best Beloved" at The Eldritch Dark:

http://www.eldritchdark.com/writings/poetry/452/a-psalm-to-the-best-beloved

This poem from Clark Ashton Smith (CAS) verges into the erotic, especially in the closing lines:


Thy body is a secret Eden
Fed with lethean springs,
And the touch of thy flesh is like to the savor of lotos.
In thy hair is a perfume of ecstasy,
And a perfume of sleep;
Between thy thighs is a valley of delight,
And a valley of peace.


It's a powerful expression of the joys of physical love, and handled in a manner that is not the least bit titillating.  Living as I do in an age of over-sexualized media, as a reader I greatly appreciate CAS' ability to render the many dimensions of love without descending into the voyeuristic.