Zothique (Clark Ashton Smith)

He who has trod the shadows of Zothique And looked upon the coal-red sun oblique, Henceforth returns to no anterior land, But haunts ruins on the black sea-sand And dead gods drink the brine. He who has known the gardens of Zothique Were bleed the fruits torn by the simorgh's beak, Savors no fruit of greener hemispheres: In sunset cycles of the sombering years, He sips an amaranth wine. He who has loved the wild girls of Zothique Shall not come back a gentler love to seek, Nor know the vampire's from the lover's kiss: For him the scarlet Lilith of necropolis Rears amorous and malign. [chorus outro] But he who has escaped the shadows of Zothique On far-poured oceans under the shifted moon bleak He who abandons the wine The scarlet love malign Will find by fates design His lungs filled with brine