The Erotic Spirit An Anthology of Poems of Sensuality, Love, and Longing

by HAMILL, SAM

• ISBN13: 9781570622342
• ISBN10: 1570622345
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-03-30
• Publisher: Shambhala

Summary

This extraordinary collection of poems-covering thirty centuries of poetry from around the world-celebrates the erotic spirit in all its forms, from the passion of sexual desire to the intense longing for spiritual union. Beginning with anonymous Egyptian love songs from the fifteenth century BCE and continuing up to today's finest poets, the book draws on a broad range of cultural and spiritual traditions, including ancient Greek and Roman erotic poems, ecstatic Sufi songs, Chinese elegies for lost lovers, and bawdy English satires. Many of the poems are presented here in new translations by the editor, Sam Hamill, one of America's premier poet translators.

Author Biography

Sam Hamill is the author of more than thirty books of poetry, essays, and translations from the classical Chinese and Japanese, ancient Greek, Latin, and other languages. He has been a recipient of fellowships from the Woodrow Wilson Foundation, the Andrew Mellon Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Guggenheim Foundation, and the Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission. He lives near Port Townsend, Washington.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. XVII
The little sycamore she planted	p. 1
My lover is a lotus blossom	p. 2
He is the love-wolf	p. 3
He is almost a god, a man beside you	p. 4
I love	p. 5
Eros seizes and shakes my very soul	p. 6
Weaving a garland long ago	p. 7
Think how unspeakably sweet	p. 8
Didyme waved an olive branch at me	p. 9
from The Song of Songs (ca. 3rd century bce)	p. 10
Peeking in through	p. 19
Whether I see you now	p. 20
Her foot sparkled like silver	p. 21
How could I have known	p. 22
I can't hear to watch your hips	p. 23
Her perfect naked breast	p. 24
He is like a god	p. 25
My woman says she'd rather have me	p. 26
Sweet sparrow, my lover's pet	p. 27
Your sins have brought my mind so low	p. 28
My lovely, sweet Ipsithilla	p. 29
Xanthippe, singing at her lyre	p. 30
Elegy to His Mistress	p. 31
Doing, a Filthy Pleasure Is, and Short	p. 33
Busy in the Spring	p. 34
A Smile	p. 35
Song	p. 36
Beautiful Melite, in the throes of middle age	p. 37
Phyllis, loving Demophoon	p. 38
And there lay the lovers, lip-locked	p. 39
Come, give me kisses, Rhodope	p. 40
Take off your clothes, my love!	p. 41
Even clothed in wrinkles, dear Philinna	p. 42
Women of Yueh	p. 43
Blue Water	p. 44
Resentment Near the Jade Steps	p. 45
Longing for Someone	p. 46
Late evening finally comes	p. 47
When my wife left home	p. 48
Lament	p. 49
Remembering	p. 50
Bamboo Mat	p. 51
Elegy	p. 52
Empty House	p. 54
Melancholic	p. 55
Is that the same moon?	p. 56
To the Tune: The Wine Spring ("Eternal autumn rain--")	p. 57
To the Tune: The Wine Spring ("Rain falls ...")	p. 58
Early morning glows	p. 59
As night follows night	p. 60
I long for him most	p. 61
My black hair tangled	p. 62
When I think of you	p. 63
Song	p. 64
I'd sell my soul for that fawn	p. 65
That's it--I love that fawn	p. 66
Faint Thunder Drifts beneath the Willow	p. 67
The Pool Is Full of Autumn Sky, Rippled by Gentle Breezes	p. 68
Deep, Deep in the Shade of the Court	p. 69
Remembering My Wife	p. 70
Plum Blossoms	p. 72
Spring at Wu Ling	p. 73
Butterflies Love Flowers	p. 74
The Washing Stream	p. 75
Boat of Stars	p. 76
On Her Decision to Stop Wearing Clothes	p. 77
Like This	p. 78
You that love Lovers	p. 81
When I see Your Face	p. 82
What I want is to see your face	p. 83
On Love	p. 85
If constancy in love ...	p. 86
Love delivers to me its sweetest thoughts	p. 87
Face to Face with My Lover on Daito's Anniversary	p. 88
Song of the Dream Garden	p. 89
My Hand Is Lady Mori's Hand	p. 90
Night Talk in a Dream Chamber	p. 91
My Love's Dark Place Is Fragrant like Narcissus	p. 92
Elegy	p. 93
Give up erotic games, Kabir	p. 94
Sometimes, everywhere I look	p. 95
First Love	p. 96
Dark One	p. 97
Don't block my way, friend	p. 98
Having wet me with love	p. 99
A glimpse of your body	p. 100
Sonnet CXXIX	p. 101
As if to lift my babe-in-arms	p. 102
When I found her in the bathing pool	p. 103
All day she studies her new love-bite in the mirror	p. 104
Loveliness beyond words	p. 105
Delight in Disorder	p. 106
Clothes Do but Cheat and Cozen Us	p. 107
Upon the Nipples of Julia's Breast	p. 108
To His Mistress	p. 109
To My Dear and Loving Husband	p. 110
Your breasts will not fall	p. 111
To His Coy Mistress	p. 112
Song for a Girl	p. 114
Which Contains a Fantasy Satisfied with a Love Befitting It	p. 115
Oysters	p. 116
from Visions	p. 117
The Question Answer'd	p. 118
Sharing Eve's Apple	p. 119
Woman's Love Song	p. 121
from I Sing the Body Electric	p. 122
from I Sing the Body Electric	p. 124
A Woman Waits for Me	p. 126
I Am He That Aches with Love	p. 129
City of Orgies	p. 130
Possessed	p. 131
I won't care	p. 132
Wild Nights	p. 133
Fires run through my body ...	p. 134
Oxaitoq's Song	p. 135
Passion and Love	p. 136
Longing	p. 137
If I were a poet	p. 138
Spring quickly passes	p. 139
A thousand strands	p. 140
Are you still longing	p. 141
The Guest	p. 142
The Unfaithful Wife	p. 144
Body of a Woman	p. 147
Love Song	p. 148
Sottoportico San Zaccaria	p. 149
Quietly	p. 150
More Beautiful than Your Eyes	p. 151
A Coal Fire in Winter	p. 153
Two Sonnets	p. 154
Our Bodies	p. 156
The Mutes	p. 158
The Glass	p. 160
A Form of Women	p. 161
The Rain	p. 163
from Twenty-one Love Poems	p. 165
The Most Ancient Names of Fire	p. 166
Poem for Easter	p. 168
The women you are accustomed to	p. 170
Song at midnight	p. 171
Night comes and extinguishes the numbers ...	p. 173
Ten Thousand Sutras	p. 174
from Brief Lessons in Eroticism I	p. 176
For Every Heart	p. 179
Perpetua	p. 180
Shiva's Prowess	p. 181
The Lovers	p. 183
The Thief	p. 185
Notes on the Poets	p. 187
Credits	p. 205
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