Ah, Babalon!
A beast born here
Ecstasy; Exhausted beauty
The idle scorn of races held captive in your hand.
He breathes! He lives
Moves to exult the stars within your frame
And before him fear of joy dies slowly
The night-sky rises over ancient lands.
Ah, Babalon!
In you is all
Pleasure writhing over your flesh
All changes, and becomes the same.
A death! A thousand nights in your caresses
Blood running in dark alleys to nowhere fresh
Releasing that which will destroy the world
And brands a new countenance to the heavens.
Rodney Orpheus 1979