Thou didst put upon thine eyes the covering of him who would see God. Ah! wherefore didst thou not look at me, Iokanaan? With the cloak of thine hands, and with the cloak of thy blasphemies thou didst hide thy face. Thy voice was a censer that scattered strange perfumes, and when I looked on thee I heard strange music. In the whole world there was nothing so red as thy mouth. There was nothing in the world so black as thy hair. There was nothing in the world so white as thy body. It was a tower of silver decked with shields of ivory. It was a garden full of doves and lilies of silver. But thou wert beautiful! Thy body was a column of ivory set upon feet of silver. Ah, Iokanaan, Iokanaan, thou wert the man that I loved alone among men! All other men were hateful to me. That which the dogs leave, the birds of the air shall devour. I can throw it to the dogs and to the birds of the air. Thou didst bear thyself toward me as to a harlot, as to a woman that is a wanton, to me, Salome, daughter of Herodias, Princess of Judaea! Well, I still live, but thou art dead, and thy head belongs to me. It is strange, is it not? How is it that the red viper stirs no longer? Thou wouldst have none of me, Iokanaan. Wherefore are they shut? Open thine eyes! Lift up thine eyelids, Iokanaan! Wherefore dost thou not look at me? Art thou afraid of me, Iokanaan, that thou wilt not look at me? And thy tongue, that was like a red snake darting poison, it moves no more, it speaks no words, Iokanaan, that scarlet viper that spat its venom upon me. But wherefore dost thou not look at me, Iokanaan? Thine eyes that were so terrible, so full of rage and scorn, are shut now. I will bite it with my teeth as one bites a ripe fruit. SALOMÉ: Ah! thou wouldst not suffer me to kiss thy mouth, Iokanaan.
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