THE VIRGIN
75
We are lulled
by the whirr of the stars ;
We are fanned
by the whisper , the wind ;
We are locked in unbreakable bars,
The love of the spirit and mind .
The infinite powers
Of rapture are ours ;
We are one , and our kisses are kind . ?
A
true
wife ,
that
is
a woman
whose
very
soul
palpitates
in
harmony
with
that of her husband
or
lover , is the greatest joy of life.
Burns sang :
To make a happy fireside clime
For weans and wife,
Is the true pathos
and
sublime
Of human
life .
And from the other side of
the sphere
the melodious
lines of Kalidasa
reverberate with the same perfection
of pure
wifehood .
In
the
Raghuvancha
the
step
mothers
of Rama
greet Sita thus , when she blames
herself for the misfortunes which befell her husband :
Dear daughter , rise !
(So said they) “ 'Tis thy spotless life alone
That brought thy Lord and Lakshman through their toils
Triumphant .” Then with loving words and true
They praised her, worthy wife of worthy Lord .
What
a melody lives in those words ,
“
'Twas thy
spotless
life alone . ”
Rama
through
all
his misfor
tunes
,
through
all
the snares
of
life
,
finds ultimately
that
all
his woes are but
a
teardrop
to
be
swallowed
up
in
that boundless
ocean
of
love
-
the
heart
of
a.
chaste
and
loving
wife
.
And
so
did
Ahinoam
in
Jephthah
when
he
said
:
And my wife's eyes were welcome more desired
Than chains
of
roses
,
and the song
of
children
,
And swinging palm branches
,
and milk
-
white
-
elders
.?
2
1
Orpheus
,
vol
.
iii,
p
.
218
.
Jephthah
,
vol
.
i,
p
.
82
.