Anarchistbanjo's World

Orchids

When the Devil
was a woman
She was Lilith
Her black hair coiled
In heavy knots
Surrounding her head
Like a Botticelli ruff
When she smiled tiredly
At the gold bands
And colored stones
On all of her narrow fingers
When she read Villiers
And loved Huysmans
When she understood
Maeterlinks silence
And her soul bathed
In the colors
Of Gabriel d’Annunzlo
She once laughed
And when the Princess
Laughed a little serpent
Sprang out of her mouth
This most beautiful Devil
Stroked the serpent
This queen stroked the serpent
With her be-ringed fingers
So that it turned, hissed,
Hissed, hissed
And sprayed venom
Lilith collected the drops
And sprinkled them
Over her heavy copper vase
Of moist earth,
Black, moist earth
Her vast hands moved lightly
All around the
Heavy copper vase
Caressing it
Softly her pale lips sang
Her old spell
Her spell rang
Like a child’s rhyme
Soft and languid,
Languid like the kisses
From her mouth
The moist earth drank
And life arose in the vase
Enticed by her languid kisses
Enticed by her soft sounds
And slowly out
Of the black earth crept
Orchids-
In front of the favorite
Mirroring her
Pale features
Surrounded with
Botticelli vipers
Creeping sideways
Out of the copper vase
Orchids-
Devil’s flowers
Those of the old earth
That through Lilith’s spell
And specially prepared
Serpent’s venom
Had been brought
Into the light,
Orchids-
Devil’s flowers

-Hanns Heinz Ewers
translated by Joe Bandel