Page:Wessex poems and other verses (IA wessexpoemsother00hard).pdf/68

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SAN SEBASTIAN

"Down the stony steps of the house-fronts whiteWe rolled rich puncheons of Spanish grape,Till at length, with the fire of the wine alight,I saw at a doorway a fair fresh shape—A woman, a sylph, or sprite.
"Afeard she fled, and with heated headI pursued to the chamber she called her own;—When might is right no qualms deter,And having her helpless and aloneI wreaked my lust on her.
"She raised her beseeching eyes to me,And I heard the words of prayer she sentIn her own soft language. . . . SeeminglyI copied those eyes for my punishmentIn begetting the girl you see!
"So, to-day I stand with a God-set brandLike Cain's, when he wandered from kindred's ken. . . .

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