THE VIRGIN
81
Such
is True
Love , whether
it
be
the
love
of a
virgin , a harlot , or
a wife .
No
man -made
law ,
no
convention ,
no
ceremony
can
create
it ;
for
it
is
spontaneous , anarchic ; few are
its
children
,
and still
fewer its warriors
.
All that this lover
sees
breathes
“
Alice
”;
all
that
he
hears reverberates with her name
;
all
that
he
smells holds the clinging
scent
of
her hair
,
Alice
,
Alice
,
Alice
!
He
feels
she
is
beyond
him
;
yet
in
his
ear whispers
the
Master
;
whose
power
is
rapture
.
I
drew
a
hideous
talisman of lust
In
many colours where
strong sigils shone
;
Crook'd mystic language
of
oblivion
,
Fitted
to
crack and scorch the terrene
crust
And bring the sulphur steaming from
the thrust
Of Satan's winepress
,
was
ill
written
on
The accurséd margin
,
and the orison
Scrawled backwards
,
as
a
bad magician must
.
By
these vile tricks
,
abominable spells
,
I
drew foul horrors from
a
many hells
---
Though
I
had fathomed Fate
;
though
I
had
seen
Chastity charm
-
proof arm and
sea gray eyes
And sweet
clean
body
of
my spirit's queen
,
Where nothing dwells that God did not devise
.'
The sonnets relating
the
events
of
the
seventh
to
the tenth day are dismal
,
attempting
to
drown
Love
in
Lust
.
On
the twelfth
a
little flame
burns
up
,
then
comes
the
poem
,
which
Alice
receives
and
reads
.
Every
verse
is
as
charming
,
simple
,
and fascinating
as
the following
two
:
One kiss
,
like snow
,
to
slip
,
Cool fragrance from thy
lip
To melt on mine
;
One kiss
,
a
white
-
sail ship
To laugh and leap and dip
·
Alice
,
an
Adultery
,
vol
.
ii,
p
.
66
.
G