By Josef Maria Mayer
SONNET I
EVE
Let Josef kiss me with the kiss of his mouth!
His burning love is more delightful than wine!
I want to nip at the brim of the cup of his mouth
And taste his kiss till I become drunken of love!
The fragrance of his perfume is very pleasing,
His erotic perfume wakes my desire!
His name is sweet to me like milk and honey,
No wonder that the women love my poet!
O Josef, take me away with you, come, haste!
O bring me in your chamber, in your bedroom!
The sports of love are waiting for you and me
In the secrets of mysterious Love!
THE YOUNG GIRLS
O Josef, we delight in your love and wisdom,
Your burning love is more delightful than wine!
SONETT II
EVE
My hair is black, young girls, but long is my hair,
My hair is like the hair of the Huris of Eden!
My hair is like the veil of the goddess Isis,
My hair is the veil of the bride who wedded the
bridegroom!
My brother is angry about his younger sister,
He says: You shall carry for your household, sister!
But I carry not for the rose in my garden,
The butterfly comes and tastes the rose’s nectar!
O Josef whom I love, O tell me softly,
Where are you slumbering at midday on a couch?
Where do you rest at midnight in a bed?
Where is your soul when you sleep, beloved Josef?
Should I be veiled like a veiled goddess?
Should I search another man in the world?
SONNET III
JOSEF
You are like a horse, beloved, like a mare,
I want to ride on your back and pierce your flanks!
You are so beautiful as Pharaoh’s daughter,
You are mysterious as the veiled Isis!
Your blushing cheeks are beautiful, blushing rose,
Your skin
is white as milk and soft as peaches!
I like
the silvery earrings in your ears,
I like
the string of pearls between your breasts!
I want to
make you a marriage-ring of gold
And
strive it on the fourth finger of your right hand!
I want to
present to you a wondrous medal
Of the
Virgin Mary for your neck!
I want to
pray with you the rosary
And
meditate only “Ave Maria Amen”.
SONNET IV
EVE
While Josef was at his table and eat his bread
And drunk his wine, my perfume spread its fragrance.
My perfume was the perfume of rose’s oil,
So Josef was the wine and Eve the rose!
My beloved is to me a flower,
Sweet smelling, resting between my milk-white breasts!
O rest between my breasts, sweet-smelling flower,
O rest between my breasts, beloved Josef!
My long black hair is red from henna blossoms
And my fingernails are red from henna.
And my beloved is a cluster of vines,
He is the Lord of Wine and I am his vineyard!
Beloved,
come and drink the milk of my breasts,
Beloved,
come and drink the wine of my lips!
SONNET V
JOSEF
You are so beautiful, my greatly beloved,
You are so beautiful as the Venus of Milo!
Your eyes are soft as doves, the birds of peace,
Your eyes are soft as the pigeons in the oaks!
EVE
How soft you are, o Josef, greatly beloved,
How mild is your wisdom and your charity!
Your poems are charming like magic spells!
Our bed for the sports of love is the garden in
springtime!
JOSEF
Our house is build of cedar and cypress
And our bed is decked with whitest linen!
EVE
I am a rose without thorns in the garden of love,
I am a lily, the cup of by bud is deep!
JOSEF
Like a scarlet rose among the thorns
Is my wise woman among the giggling girls!
SONNET VI
EVE
An apple tree among the trees of the forest
Is Josef, wiser than the other men.
Delicious fruits of love are found in his life,
I delight to sit in his cooling shade.
I like to
taste the fruit of the kiss of his lips,
His
kisses are sweeter than wine to my nipping tongue!
He leads
me in his chamber to his banquet,
His
banner over me is red hot Love!
Beloved,
strengthen me with sweetest raisins
And
refresh me with the juice of the apples!
Help me,
my God, because I am sick of love,
I fade
away in the madness of my desire!
Josef,
lay your arm around my waist
And
embrace with your tenderly fingers my breasts!
SONNET VII
EVE
My beloved comes, oh look, he comes!
He is hasting, is flying the way in my garden!
He runs with his feet, his anthem is short, he sweats,
He’s coming! Hallelujah! Now he comes!
My beloved is like a stag on the hill,
The forests resound the echo of his roars!
I am like a roe, so tender and soft,
So shy like an hind is my burning desire of lust!
He gazes through my window in the night,
He’s peeping through the window to see my body!
His eyes are thirsty for the glance of my body,
His heart is hungry for the meal of my flesh!
JOSEF
Arise, my darling, like the goddess of morn,
My beautiful one and only, come and love me!
SONNET VIII
JOSEF
See and listen! The death of winter is past!
The newborn sun is shining with power from above!
The newborn daffodil erects its head
And the first birds are singing in the woods!
Wait a little and the crocuses come
And the merry butterflies suck their nectar!
The bees will come soon and make their honeycomb
And roses will blush before the sting of the bee!
The cooing of the doves is heard in the oaks,
The pair of redbreasts soon will build their nest!
The sparrows will play cheerfully on the street,
The young girls show themselves in pretty dresses!
Arise, my darling, like the goddess of morn,
My beautiful one and only, come and love me!
SONNET IX
JOSEF
My cooing dove in the green leaves of the oak,
My pigeon
on the top of the living cypress,
Show me
your face, the holy face of beauty,
Show me
your face, the feminine face of God!
And let
me hear your voice, so soft as a flute,
Let me
hear your voice, my whispering muse!
Your
voice is sweet like honey from the bees,
Your face
is lovely like the face of Saint Mary!
EVE
My
beloved is mine and I am his own,
He walks
on the path of the roses and lilies.
In the
evening time, when the sun goes down,
When
Venus rises at the horizon, beloved,
You shall
roar like a stag on the dewy hill,
That the
woods resound the echo of your cry!
SONNET X
EVE
All night
long I’m waiting on my bed
And look
for the one I love with heart and soul,
But I do
not find the one I love,
I will
arise from by bed and search for Josef.
I walk
through the streets and look for Josef,
I’m
searching on the market-place of the city.
The
policeman sees how I am searching
As I made
my round in the streets of the city.
Mister
policeman, have you seen my Josef?
But the
policeman did not know my beloved.
Now the
policeman is gone away and ah!
There are
you, my beloved, my darling Josef!
I will
bring you in the house of my mother
And will
love you like a younger brother!
SONNET XI
JOSEF
I have in
my house a couch of wisdom,
The feet
are made of the costly mahagonny,
And the
table near the couch is oak,
On the
table stands a cup of glass.
When I lay
on the couch, I deck myself with the fleece
Of the lamb
and deck myself with linen.
The pillows
I inherited from my grandmother,
The couch I
inherited from my father and mother.
Young
beautiful maidens, come and see my house,
Young
beautiful maidens, sit on my second couch!
I want to
see the beauty of freshest youth!
Come, visit
me, ye sixteen years old graces!
See the
crown I wear on my wedding-feast!
My mother
made the crown for my day of joy!
SONNET XII
JOSEF
How
beautiful you are, my Eve, how sweet!
Your eyes
are soft as the eyes of cooing doves,
Your hair
is like the veil of the goddess Isis,
The black
hair flowing down to the top of your breasts!
Your teeth
are white as pearls or ivory,
Your anthem
is fresh like sugared peppermint,
Your lips,
oh sweetest lips, a scarlet rose,
O mouth,
you are like a ruby or red wine!
Your
breasts are like the ewe of an holy cow,
I want to
drink the milk of your motherly ewe!
Your
breasts are white like lilies on a mountain,
I’m thirsty
for the milk of the lilywhite Lilith!
You’re
altogether beautiful in perfection,
You are the
most fair female of your sex!
SONNET XIII
JOSEF
You have
stolen my heart, my sister, my bride!
You came in
the night as a thief and stole my heart!
With the
flash of your eyes you’ve stolen my heart,
With the
wondrous medal on your necklace!
How
delightful is your beauty, my bride,
How
pleasing is your tender love, my sister!
I’m drunken
from love more than from red wine,
I’m drunken
from the fragrance of your perfume.
Your lips,
sweet lips, are sweeter than the honey,
Milk and
honey are under your caressing tongue!
The
fragrance of your clothes is like the fragrance
Of all the
spices of Arabia’s market.
You are
like a garden locked up, my chaste beloved,
You’re like
a fountain of lust and pleasure, my darling!
SONNET XIV
EVE
Away, O
north wind of the bitter winter,
And come, O
south wind of the lusty summer!
Hot south
wind, blow on my garden, blow on my flower,
The kingdom
of Love is a kingdom of summer!
Beloved
Josef, come into my garden
And pluck
the fig from my fig tree and gather the myrtle!
Taste the
wine of my pomegranates, beloved,
And taste
the juice of my apples, Josef, my darling!
JOSEF
I will
haste and come in your garden, my bride,
I will
pluck the fig from the fig tree, beloved!
I will eat
the raisins in your vineyard,
I will
drink the red wine of your passion!
THE FRIENDS
OF JOSEF
Eat, o
Josef, the honey of her body,
And
drink, o Josef, the red wine of her blood!
SONNET XV
EVE
I slept
on my couch, but my loving heart was awake.
Listen,
my heart! My beloved is knocking:
JOSEF
Open your
heart for me, my sister, my darling,
My dove,
my beloved, beauty without a spot!
My head is
full of dew, my heart full of tears,
My hair
is drenched with the dampness of the night!
EVE
I have
already taken off my clothes,
Shall I
clothe myself again in my dress?
I have
bathed my body in the milk of a camel,
Shall I
soil my naked body again?
He thrust
his hand through my latch-opening softly,
My
innermost soul began to pound for him!
I arose
to open for my beloved,
My
fingers are wet on the handles of the bolt.
SONNET
XVI
THE
GIRLFRIENDS OF EVE
What can
you tell about your beloved friend,
Why is he
better than the other men?
What can
you tell about your own court’s poet,
Why is he
greater than the other poets?
EVE
My
beloved poet is radiant,
His
thinking head is pure like purified gold.
His beard
is long and grey like the Fathers beard,
As you
can see on the icon of God the Father.
His eyes
are lovely like the eyes of doves,
His look
is charming, full of burning desire.
His
speaking mouth is like a scarlet rose,
He is
always talking about divine love!
He is my
friend and my comrade and my fate,
O my
girlfriends of the Gnostic church.
SONNET
XVII
THE
GIRLFRIENDS OF EVE
Where has
your beloved Josef gone,
O woman,
most beautiful woman of all the women,
Which way
doth your beloved Josef turn,
That we
may look for him with you, our girlfriend?
EVE
My
beloved has gone down to my garden,
He smells
the fragrance of the garden’s roses,
He smells
the fragrance of the garden’s thyme
And feels
the Eros in the soul of my garden.
He is
dreaming in midst of the newborn crocuses
And is
meditating in midst of the tulips.
He is
weeping over the self-love of Narcissus
And
prophesies out of the flight of the sparrows and doves.
I am my
beloved’s and he is mine,
He feels
the Eros in the soul of my garden.
SONNET
XVIII
JOSEF
Turn your
blue eyes from me, beloved Eve,
They
overwhelm me, your look makes me a fool!
Your hair
is black like the mantle of Mother Night,
Your long
hair is flowing like a cataract!
Your
teeth are like the pearls of a rosary,
Your
beautiful teeth are white like ivory.
Your temples
behind the veil of your long black hair
Are
reddish like the halves of a pomegranate.
There are
queens and empresses in the world
And there
are thousands of concubines of free sex,
There are
pretty young maidens on every street,
But my
perfect one is the only one for me!
The young
girls saw her and praised her erotic beauty,
The
concubines of free sex praised her sex-appeal!
SONNET
XIX
THE
FRIENDS OF JOSEF
Who is
she, appearing like the dawn,
Like
Usha, the maiden-goddess of the morning?
Who is she,
appearing like the moon,
Like
Diana, the goddess of the moon?
Who is
she, appearing like the sun?
When we
see at morn the rising sun,
We see
our lady rising at the horizon!
She is
the queen of cosmic energies
And the
beautiful female face of the world’s soul!
JOSEF
I went
down in the grove of nut trees and saw
God’s
heavenly throne in the likeness of a nut!
I went
down in the vineyard to see the vines
And saw
the child-bearing vines with the fruits of the cluster!
Before I
realized what happened to me,
I stood
in midst of the faithful children of God!
SONNET XX
JOSEF
How
beautiful your bare feet in the sandals,
You walk
in the sandals of Juno, heaven’s queen!
Your
graceful legs – oh spread your legs – are like jewels,
You are
the master-piece of the hand of an artist!
Your
little navel is a rounded goblet
That
never lacks the red wine of mystical union!
Your
waist is golden like a mount of wheat,
Encircled
by the purple buds of the poppies!
Your
breasts are like two fawns, two lovely twin fawns
Of the
gazelle, they are whipping up and down!
You
opened your dress of transparent silk and I saw
Your
naked breasts full of the milk of comfort!
Oh
beloved, my wanton lust, my pleasure,
You are
my sex-idol, you are my sex-goddess, Eve!
SONNET
XXI
JOSEF
You
goose-neck is like an ivory tower
And your
blue eyes are blue like swimming-pools,
Your nose
is like the nose of a kingly eagle,
Flying in
heaven to see the godly sun!
Your head
is like the mystic of Mount Carmel,
Veiled by
the seven veils of Mother Night!
Your hair
is purple by the tincture of henna,
I am an
un-free captive of your tresses!
How
beautiful you are and how pleasing, Eve,
Your
naked breasts like clusters of fruitful fruits!
I will
climb the apple-tree of your body
And pluck
the fig from the fig-tree of your sex!
Your
breasts are like clusters of grapes on the vines
And I
will suck from your breasts the wine of love!
SONNET
XXII
EVE
Come, my
friend, let us go to the countryside,
Let us
spend the night together in the village.
The moral
system of virtue in our souls
And the
stars of the firmament above our heads!
Let us
wander to the vineyards of France
To see if
the vines are child-bearing with the clusters,
To see if
the peach trees of immortality are in bloom,
There I
will give you the intimacy of my body!
At
midnight we will dig the magic mandrake
Out of
the holy womb of the black mother earth,
We will
celebrate the charms of love,
We will
love as magicians the magic of Eros!
We will
unite our bodies and our souls
And mix
our minds in the mystery of love!
SONNET
XXIII
EVE
If only
you were to me like a brother,
Who was
nursed at my mother’s abundant breasts,
Then, if
I find you outside in the garden,
I would
kiss you as a sister kisses her brother.
I would
lead you in the house of my mother
And would
eat with you at my mother’s table.
My
dearest mother had taught me how to love
And how
to be full of soft and tenderly mercy.
I would
give you costly champagne to drink,
As my
poor mother loves to drink champagne,
And I
would give you the sweet juice of my apples,
And you
would embrace with intimacy my body!
O women,
do not awake my beloved from sleep,
Until his
angel awakens him with a kiss!
SONNET
XXIV
EVE
Under the
apple tree I embrace your body,
There
your faithful mother conceived you in love,
There she
who was in labour gave you birth.
I
celebrate the feast-day of your birth!
Place me
like a seal on your loving heart,
Like a
seal on your embracing arm!
The
passionate love of Eros is stronger than death!
But
jealousy is unyielding like mother grave.
The love
of Eros burns like blazing fire,
Like a
mighty flame of the love of the Godhead!
Even the
pacific ocean can not quench my desire!
Even the
north-see can not sweep away my lust!
No man
can buy my love with gifts of money,
No man
can buy my body with valentines!
SONNET
XXV
JOSEF
You who
dwell in the garden in midst of the roses
And in
midst of the crocuses, lilies and tulips,
You who
dwell in the womb of Mother Nature,
Whose
intellectual soul dwells in the World’s Soul,
Let me
hear your voice, the sound of a flute,
Let me
hear your voice, my whispering muse!
The
friends of my poetry are waiting for you,
The
friends of my poetry are waiting on my muse!
EVE
Come
away, my beloved, on the mountains,
Let us
talk to the Most High on the heights!
Let us be
a pair of married eagles,
Flying in
heaven to look in the face of the sun!
And jump
like a stag on my spice-laden mountain!
And let
us mix our souls in sexual love!
