From the filmy froth of gauze Swells voluptuous her breast.
Each is filled with silent yearning,Gripped by power allpervading,Longing all their eyes are turning On that form in beauty gliding.
And her eyes,full of caprice,Laugh in undimmed radiance;
On she moves with body's grace In the manycoloured dance.
Past the man she lightly dances,Neither does he yield nor quail;
Clouded are her glowing glances,And her rosy cheeks turn pale.
She would mingle with the crowd,From the stranger turn away,But a scornful hiss is heard And a God holds her in sway.
Grim,he looks her up and down,Ominously closes on her.
All the dancers,turned to stone,Questioningly eye each other.
But Lucinda's throat and breathing Seem as if by Gods pressed tight.
With her soul for respite striving,Clutches she her maid in fright.
"Ha!So I must find you faithless,Who once pledged yourself to me,You,Lucinda,you a traitress,You another's bride I see!"
Then the crowd would rush upon him For his conduct in that place,But he hurls the assailants from him,And like thunder sounds his voice.
"Let no one dare interfere!"
Menace in his eyes is plain.
And all present,cowed,must hear,Listen to the voice of pain.
"Never fear,I shall not harm her,She shall not be hurt this night.
She need only watch the drama That I stage for her delight.
"Let the dancing not be over,Carry on your revelry.
Soon you shall embrace your lover,Soon you shall be free of me.
"I,too,shall the nuptial bond Celebrate this eventide.
But another way I've found
Night and Blade shall be my bride.
"From your eyes but let me suck Sensuous passion,sensuous glow.
Ah!Now I have seen your look;
You shall watch my life's blood flow!"
Swiftly through him go the blades Long held ready in his hands,Snapped are all life's quivering threads,Darkness on his eyes descends.
With a heavy crash he falls,Every muscle breaks in twain.
Death his prideful limbs enfolds,And no God wakes him again.
Then without a word she seizes Sword and dagger,quivering.
With the iron her skin she pierces,And the purple life's blood springs.
In a trice,the watchful maid,Shuddering at the bloody spray,Wrests from her the deadly blade,Pulls the fatal steel away.
Then in pain Lucinda sinks On the corpse with grievous moan.
From his heart the blood she drinks,To his heart lets flow her own.
And the drapes of gauzy white That her slender body cover,Redden now with bloodstains bright,Frothing,bubbling all over.
Long she moans there,hanging,clinging On to him who lies in death.
He might live,if only longing Soul back into clay could breathe.
Pale and bloody then she rises From the one she chose at last.
Slowly back the whole crowd presses,Murmuring,horrorstruck,aghast.
And a Goddess,tall,uprearing,Her own doom's artificer,Turns her gaze,destructive,searing,On the man who married her.
And a smile,icecold and mocking,On the pale lips starts to play.
Anguished wailing tells its shocking Tale of madness on the way.
Broken up the merry revels,Fled the dancers,one and all,Silent now the clashing cymbals,Desolate the empty hall.
