There breaks in the bazaar of Zanzibar,
red surge of life on life;
At eve there came through the sunset's flame
a man with a dripping knife.
"Eunuchs a score and seven more
I've made today," said he,
"The blood and tears of all my years
I've caused would fill a sea.
"Search far, search far from Zanzibar
for youths of many lands
"For my hungry steel and the glee I feel
when they writhe beneath my hand
He laid him down where the stains lay brown
on the floor of the gelding room,
And his gory blade as it down was laid
clanged like a tone of doom.
In sleep he leered and clawed his beard
with fingers black with gore;
The ghosts of dead men came from Hell
and staked him to the floor.
This work is in the public domain in the United States as it was first published after December 31, 2002 and the author died at least 70 years ago. This is a posthumous work and may be copyrighted in certain countries and areas, based on how many years after posthumous publication, rather than how many years after author's death.
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