The Star in the West

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