Verse > Anthologies > T. R. Smith, ed. > Poetica Erotica: A Collection of Rare and Curious Amatory Verse
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T. R. Smith, comp.  Poetica Erotica: Rare and Curious Amatory Verse.  1921–22.
 
From “The Songs of Bilitis”
XVI. Dances by Moonlight
By Pierre Louÿs (1870–1925)
 
(1894. Translated from the French by Horace Manchester Brown. 1904)

UPON the soft grass, in the night, the young girls with hair of violets have all danced together, one of each pair playing the part of lover.		  1
  The virgins said: “We are not for you.” And as if they were ashamed, they hid their virginity. A satyr played upon the flute under the trees.  2
  The others said: “We have come to seek you.” They arranged their tunics about them like the dress of men; and they struggled in ecstasy while entwining their dancing legs.  3
  Then each one feeling herself vanquished, took her lover by the ears even as one takes a beaker by the two handles, and, the head bent forward, drank a kiss.  4
 
 
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