Bare shoulders swelling out of scarlet silk;
A slender, supple throat, whereon is set
A perfect, dark-crowned head; like un-creamed milk,
When fallen rose and poppy leaves have met
And mingled on its surface, is her skin.
Her arms are softer than soft velvets are;
Deep dimpled are her cheeks and her round chin,
And never yet has any real star
Shone like the gems that in her bosom rest. . . .
But the slow-lifted eyelid breaks the spell,
And lets the serpent thro’ its fair disguise―
Soft flesh, soft throat, soft arms, delicious breast!
Beware! Beware! the fires of deepest hell
Burn in those amber, flower-lidded eyes.
“Delilah” as it appears in Higginson’s When the Birds Go North Again (1898).