74
THE STAR
IN THE WEST
With love more perfect, for
its
purple
root
Might blossom
outward
to
the snowy fruit
Whose bloom
to
-
night
lay sleeping
on
her breast
.'
True love
,
the love
of
self
in
the soul
of
another
,
the
poet paints very beautifully
in
the following charming
lines
:
Do you recall
?
Could
I
forget
?
How once the full moon shone above
,
Over the houses
,
and we let
Loose rein upon the steeds
of
love
?
How kisses
fled
to
kisses
,
rain
Of fiery dew upon the soul
Kindled
,
till ecstasy
was pain
;
Desire
,
delight
:
and swift
control
Leapt from
the lightning
,
as
the cloud
Disparted
,
rended
,
from
us
twain
,
And
we were one
:2
This melting
of
the
I
in
you
,
is
the only
true possible
form
of
marriage
,
and the only form
that can exalt
it
over the prostitution
of
the monde
and demi
-
monde
;
for
it
matters
little
if
a
woman
sell her body for
a
five
pound
note
,
or
for
a
five million pound
dot
.
The man
who
in
his turn marries
a
woman
for her wealth
is
as
foul
a
male
prostitute
as
ever
shrieked
his
lewd
obscenities
in
the street
of
Sodom
,
and down the by
ways
of
Gibeah
.
Tannhäuser
expresses
the
whole
celebration
of
this union
in
two pregnant
lines
:
That
is
true marriage
,
in
my estimate
.
Aspire together
to
one Deity
?
Yes
!3
Or again
in
the song
of
Nuith
:
1
Mysteries
:
Lyrical
and
Dramatic
,
vol
.
i,
p
.
94
.
2
Star and Garter
,
vol
.
iii,
p
.
13
.
3
Tannhäuser
,
vol
.
i,
p
.
259
.
-