My Burnoose + 

Into this world they tell me I was sent + 

Wrapt in a burnoose, which was rudely rent + 

And flung away, by her who first didst touch + 

My steaming flesh; I never loved her much, + 

The surly, stolid, sordid, spectral hag: + 

For never would my star of fortune lag⁠— + 

No dwarf of earth to oppose my will would dare⁠— + 

If my sebaceous burnoose she did spare, + 

And if around my neck, the ajouz says, + 

It hung, locked in a charm, for twenty days. + 

But ever since the amulet was torn, + 

The curse of gods and jinn and men I’ve worn; + 

And to my flesh it stuck⁠—a Nessus shirt⁠— + 

Despite the oozing blood, and not spurt + 

Of power, alas! is left me to control + 

The stinging tongue of an avenging soul. + 