So there I was caught, for he knew—
Like wheat from the scythe
We shrank—I was guilty of sin,
I had failed in my tithe
Of anise. But why have clean hands
To work at our smudges?
And how will you ever stop sin
If you ask of the judges
To be without sin ere they punish
A matter of lust?
I call this a ruling where morals
Fall down in the dust.
The most of us left then. He asked her:
“Does no man condemn?
Nor do I.” And so he made one
With me and with them.
So here in a sense was the world
Spiritual, civil,
Prophet and Pharisee, judge
Leagued up with the devil.
For what did it matter to say
To go and no more
Sin as she had, if the sin
Would fare as before?
It followed that Sarah went free,
And Josiah the man.
One standard for both is the rule,
And the modern plan.
What’s that? Why to sin if you wish—
For what is a sin
If no stones are hurled for the lack
Of a man to begin?
And so it all ended. This Sarah
Was given a bill.
She married Josiah, they say,
And lives with him still.