Volume Iv Part 37 (1/2)
”The Brute that lurks and irks within, How, till you have him gagged and bound, Escape the foulest form of Sin?”
(G.o.d in the Garden laughed and frowned).
”So vile, so rank, the b.e.s.t.i.a.l mood In which the race is bid to be, It wrecks the Rarer Womanhood: Live, therefore, you, for Purity!
”Take for your mate no gallant croup, No girl all grace and natural will: To work her mission were to stoop, Maybe to lapse, from Well to Ill.
Choose one of whom your grosser make”-- (G.o.d in the Garden laughed outright)-- ”The true refining touch may take, Till both attain to Life's last height.
”There, equal, purged of soul and sense, Beneficent, high-thinking, just, Beyond the appeal of Violence, Incapable of common l.u.s.t, In mental Marriage still prevail”-- (G.o.d in the Garden hid His face)-- ”Till you achieve that Female-Male In which shall culminate the race.”
William Ernest Henley [1849-1903]
”NO FAULT IN WOMEN”
No fault in women to refuse The offer which they most would choose: No fault in women to confess How tedious they are in their dress: No fault in women to lay on The tincture of vermilion, And there to give the cheek a dye Of white, where Nature doth deny: No fault in women to make show Of largeness, when they're nothing so; When, true it is, the outside swells With inward buckram, little else: No fault in women, though they be But seldom from suspicion free: No fault in womankind at all, If they but slip, and never fall.
Robert Herrick [1591-1674]
”ARE WOMEN FAIR?”
”Are women fair?” Ay! wondrous fair to see too.
”Are women sweet?” Yea, pa.s.sing sweet they be too; Most fair and sweet to them that only love them; Chaste and discreet to all save those that prove them.
”Are women wise?” Not wise, but they be witty.
”Are women witty?” Yea, the more the pity; They are so witty, and in wit so wily, That be you ne'er so wise, they will beguile ye.
”Are women fools?” Not fools, but fondlings many.
”Can women found be faithful unto any?”
When snow-white swans do turn to color sable, Then women fond will be both firm and stable.
”Are women saints?” No saints, nor yet no devils.
”Are women good?” Not good, but needful evils; So Angel-like, that devils I do not doubt them; So needful evils, that few can live without them.
”Are women proud?” Ay! pa.s.sing proud, and praise them.
”Are women kind?” Ay! wondrous kind and please them, Or so imperious, no man can endure them, Or so kind-hearted, any may procure them.
Francis Davison (?) [fl. 1602]
A STRONG HAND