Robert W. Chambers: The Sacrifice

(Excerpt from The Prophet's Paradise)

     I went into a field of flowers, whose petals are whiter than snow and whose hearts are pure gold.

     Far afield a woman cried, 'I have killed him I loved!' and from a jar she poured blood upon the flowers whose petals are whiter than snow and whose hearts are pure gold.

     Far afield I followed, and on the jar I read a thousand names, while from within the fresh blood bubbled to the brim.

     'I have killed him I loved!' she cried. 'The world's athirst; now let it drink!' She passed, and far afield I watched her pouring blood upon the flowers whose petals are whiter than snow and whose hearts are pure gold.