So hard of heart ye cannot be. My will

Is never that you reach me out the hand

To firm my footing on the abysm’s brink,

My will is but to see who thrusts me down.

The more I ply my thought the less my power

To comprehend my lord. Sooth, I have heard

From veriest youth that the polluted woman

Is barred from life, and if through all the child

It sent its shudders, now I have the ground

For such a law; in my own heart I found it.