Alice: An Adultery

THE THIRTY-SIXTH DAY “ ’Twas not their infirmity, It was married chastity.” Phœnix and Turtle. Yet ere the stars paled slowly in the east I could not sleep : and she—how else ? What rest May a man know until his quiet breast Beats to her tune ? I garbed me as a priest And moved towards my Host—on God I feast ! We lay in naked chastity, caressed Child-like or dreaming, till the dawn repressed Our sighs : that nuptial yet hath never ceased. That was the best : far sundered by the tide Dolorous, endless as Oceanus, A serpent-river girdling the large earth, Still in that pure embrace we bring to birth A thousand pleasant children born of us, Sacred and sinless, if unsanctified. 76