Pansies (Lawrence)/Chastity
CHASTITY
Chastity, beloved chastity,
O beloved chastity
how infinitely dear to me
chastity, beloved chastity!
O beloved chastity
how infinitely dear to me
chastity, beloved chastity!
That my body need not be
fingered by the mind,
or prostituted by the dree
contact of cerebral flesh—
fingered by the mind,
or prostituted by the dree
contact of cerebral flesh—
O leave me clean from mental fingering
from the cold copulation of the will,
from all the white, self-conscious lechery
the modern mind calls love!
from the cold copulation of the will,
from all the white, self-conscious lechery
the modern mind calls love!
From all the mental poetry
of deliberate love-making,
from all the false felicity
of deliberate taking
of deliberate love-making,
from all the false felicity
of deliberate taking
the body of another unto mine,
O God deliver me!
leave me alone, let me be!
O God deliver me!
leave me alone, let me be!
Chastity, dearer far to me
than any contact that can be
in this mind-mischievous age!
than any contact that can be
in this mind-mischievous age!