University of Virginia Library


64

SONNET XXI. GOD AND WOMAN.

God made a woman,—and he stood aghast
For very wonder. There she stood quite white,—
Naked and perfect. God's eyes waxèd bright;
Before him like a carven dream she passed.
Her black hair on the heaven-breeze floated light;
God watched her slowly vanish till at last
The soft superb shape glimmered out of sight:
Then on the trembling earth his tools he cast.
“Now do I for the first time envy Man”
He said: “The woman never will be mine;
Those dark thick tresses darker than the pine
And sweeter than the rose,—that body wan
And soft and scented like the dim woodbine,—
I cannot own for ever:—but he can.”