98 MYSTERIES,
Our bodies met, and, meeting, did not touch
But interpenetrated in the kiss.
* * | * * #
This writing is engraved on lamina
Of silver, found by me, the trusted friend
And loving servant of my lady and lord,
In that abandoned chapel, late destroyed
By Etna’s fury. Nothing else remained
(Save in the ante-room the sword we knew
So often flashing at the column-head)
Within. I think my lord has written this.
And for the child, whose rearing is my care,
And in whose life is left my single hope,
This writing shall conclude the book of song
His father made in worship and true love
Of his fair lady, and these songs shall be
His hope, and his tradition, and his pride.
Thus have I written for the sake of truth,
And for his sake who bears his father’s sword—
I pray God under my fond guardianship
As worthily. Thus far, and so—the end: