THE VIRGIN
99
:
tress he had denied himself in vain , stung with insult
and vile word , he slays
him :
Stark dead . The queen-I hate the name of her !
So grew the mustard -seed , one moment's
lust .
Wounded
himself, he is nursed
back
to life by the
wife of his adversary
.
Ah God ! she won that most reluctant
breath
Out of corruption
: love ! ah ! love is strong !
What waters
quench
it ? King Shalomeh
saith .?
Thus
failed
the Quest , as
all
quest
against love
must inevitably fail
.
A
man who truly loves
a
woman
loves
her
so
intensely
that
all
else
is
as
naught
;
she
grows
before
him
gigantic
through
the mist
of
his
desire
,
swallowing him
up
in
the affinity
of
her being
.
The King's sword was
of
little use
;
the pillar
of
the
Higher
Self lay
in
the
salt
-
encrusted
plains
,
saline
with the tears and sobs
of
failure
;
the ring emblem
atic
of
surrender
,
without beginning
or
end
,
was
em
blematic
also
of
the
eternality
of
love
,
that
circling
girdle
of
the world
.
In
“
Tannhäuser
"
we
have
a
similar
idea
,
though
reversed
;
for Tannhäuser enmeshed
in
the web
of
the
Venusberg
,
strives
against
the
sensual
to
gain
a
spiritual victory
;
whilst
in
“
The
Nameless
Quest
"
the knight
,
fearful
of
falling
in
the
sensual
slough
,
seeks
,
and
loses
his
straight
way
in
the
spiritual
desert
.
Thus
,
as
in
the
latter
case
,
the
striving
against
the
desire
of
a
pure
love
leads
to
an
almost
certain
failure
,
so
in
the
former
,
when
sunk deep
in
the mud
of
an
impure
affection
,
even
if
released
from
its
circling arms
,
worldly mercy
is
as
cold
to
him who
1
The Temple
of
the Holy Ghost
,
vol
.
i,
p
.
192
2
Ibid
.