172: Beware the Libertine

Bound for pleasure’s shores
Ruled by his senses and nothing more
Heedless of morals and religious directions
Compass set for hedonism and other adventures.

Step away!
Have a care for your soul!
This way lies torment
For that is his goal
To caress and to tease
Until you submit to his skill
To amuse and entertain himself
Until exhausted, you yield.

You cannot count the ways
The machinations of his mind
Will invent to ensnare you
To drive you insane.
The lust will destroy you
For you cannot reign him in
Depraved you will fall
Effortlessly into sin.

Debauched and abandoned
You will wander in a daze
Questioning how this happened?
Your memories ablaze.

Who was this profligate rake
And has he really gone?
Surely he’ll come back and save you
Something must be wrong.

As you make excuses
You forget now, how he warned you
Time and time repeated
In fact he did deplore you.

“I’m a libertine”

“You deserve better.”

But you wouldn’t be defeated
Intoxicated you strode forward
Fearlessly onto the deck
Believing you were equal
Abandoning yourself to pleasure
Not keeping yourself in check.

Wanton and hungry
You eagerly played his games
Now amidst the wreckage of your life
You find he has sailed again.

Beware the libertine
History has not judged them well
Whether Byron or the Marquis de Sade
Many fine ladies fell.

The Marquis gave us sadism
And spent much of his life in prison
Many died of venereal disease
Also many of their women.

Now their image has been romanticised
and glamourised in film
Do not be deceived
Their existence is sensual but selfish
Heed the warning
Do not be taken in.

Lady Satellite