Page:An epic of women and other poems (IA epicofwomenother00osha).pdf/118

Before he rose up from his knees one day,
And felt that he was purified as they;
  That he had trodden out the sin at last,
And that the light was filling him within?
  How many of the months and years had past
Uncounted?—But the place he was born in
No longer knew him: no man was his kin.

O then it was a most sweet, holy will
That came upon him, making his soul thrill
  With joy indeed, and with a perfect trust,—
For he soon thought of men and of the king
  All tempted in the world, with gold and lust,
And women there, and every fatal thing,
And none to save their souls from perishing—

And so he vowed that he would go forth straight
From God there in the desert, with the great
  Unearthliness upon him, and adjure
The nations of the whole world with his voice;
  Until they should resist each pleasant lure
Of gold and woman, and make such a choice
As his, that they might evermore rejoice.