University of Virginia Library


312

THE SEXES.

As the man beholds the woman,
As the woman sees the man,
Curiously they note each other,
As each other only can.
Never can the man divest her
Of that wondrous charm of sex;
Ever must she, dreaming of him,
The same mystic charm annex.
Strange, inborn, profound attraction!
Not the Poet's range of soul,
Learning, Science, sexless Virtue,
Can the gazer's thought control.
But, thro' every nerve and fancy
Which the inmost heart reveals,
Twined, ingrained, the Sense of difference,
Like the subtle serpent, steals.