Page:The Poet in the Desert.djvu/50

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

TRUTH: Like the stars, certain in their appointments, So is Retribution. It will come in its circle.

POET: You have been used and despised; Despised and used.

The sacramental-vessels have been used as an ewer For the washing of hands. The love-flame has been used as a lamp to light a sordid

house. Do the men who use you say, "You are the altars of Life, "Whom we will approach only at the call of the Master "And upon whom we will worship reverently"? No, they spill the wine and pollute the altar. When they have used you, they spit upon you in their

morality. They push you out into the street, Closing the gates upon you. Sealed by the Infinite unto love and trust, By love and trust you have been betrayed. You are beloved of the gods, but despised of men. You have been moulded by Nature perfectly. But Man has broken the statue which stands in the

portico of the temple.

TRUTH: Nature has named Love holy,

But Man has named his mumbled Marriage holier than Love.

POET: Is eternal Nature right, or man?

TRUTH: The crawling creature, or the infinite Creator?

POET: In the forgiving moonlight, on the slab Of the silent and deserted morgue, A woman lies, more whiter than the moon.

44