Classic Poem

The water clangs, the crystal flies in shivers
and he goes down; and of the fiery colt
alone emerge the tawny sculptural head
and the rider's swart and muscled torse.

The waves roll back, biting against the banks,
with convulsive and tumultuous shudder,
and man and beast, in simple and heroic
attitudes, begin a furious struggle.

A smiling nymph, red and firm of flesh,
with lank hair and primitive visage, bathes;
and waters like a girdle clasp her waist;

and she goes unashamed . . . and her breast trembles
with desire to give herself, voluptuous
and wild, to the dark centaur's rude caresses.