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“WHEN THE ROSE BECOMES INCARNATE”
  
  
  
  
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“WHEN THE ROSE BECOMES INCARNATE”

When the rose becomes incarnate in the lips of woman, sweet
Will the night's arms be to dream in and the morn's embrace to meet:
When the sea's soul pours its pureness through the eyes of woman, then
Will the angel flash forth godlike through the answering eyes of men.
Woe to man who sees too clearly all love's mystic inner deeps,
For eternal pain pursues him when he wakes or when he sleeps;
Anguish changeless, everlasting,—for he knows love's heaven too well
And he seeks on earth to find it, and he finds not heaven, but hell.
1902.