The Star in the West

88 THE STAR IN THE WEST Trampled around her by the souls that knelt , Worshipping where her false lewd body dwelt , Was dark and hateful ; and a sleepy flood Trickled therefrom as magic gums that melt . ' I am a man , nor fear to drain the bowl.2 Now some old devil, dead no doubt and damned , But living in her life , had wisely crammed Her fierce bronze throat with such a foul device As made her belly yearn for sacrifice . She leered like love on me , and smiled , and shammed , And did not pity for all her breast of spice.3 Man though he was , he is thrust into her Moloch arms . When lo ! a miracle ! he is plucked by his own fearlessness from the horrid maw , “ Free , where the blood of other men is wet ,” mingling in life till “ ten thousand little loves were brought to birth ”; then came the one woman who looked so deeply in his eyes till hers grew , shielding the sun , as a purple ring : Then in the uttermost profound I saw The veil of Love's unalterable law Lifted , and in the shadow far behind Dim and divine , within the shadow blind My own love's face most amorously draw Out of the deep toward my cloudy mind . O suddenly I felt a kiss enclose My whole live body , as a rich red rose Folding its sweetness round the honey - bee ! I felt a perfect soul embracing me , And in my spirit like a river flows A passion like the passion of the sea .* So ends the first part of this mystical and symbolic poem . In the second part the Queen speaks , her love 1 Mysteries : Lyrical and Dramatic , vol . i, p . 99 . 3 Ibid . 4 Ibid . 2 Ibid . vol . i, p . 100 .