Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


TEMPTED by EDWARD ROWLAND SILL

First Line: YES, I KNOW WHAT YOU SAY
Last Line: CLEAN FOR HER KISS?

YES, I know what you say:
Since it cannot be soul to soul,
Be it flesh to flesh, as it may;
But is Earth the whole?

Shall a man betray the Past
For all Earth gives?
"But the Past is dead?" At last,
It is all that lives.

Which were the nobler goal, --
To snatch at the moment's bliss,
Or to swear I will keep my soul
Clean for her kiss?



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