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Lord of the Flies
HYMN TO THE MOTHER OF GOD
I
Let me take (as Miles
Davis has done) beautiful
women - Nefer-
titi, Les filles
de Kilimanjaro - none
can compare with you. But then,
that is not the point.
Their beauty
is a participation. Yours is the sum
of all women's beauty. But that again
is not the point. The point
is reached when we
do not gaze hungrily
on beauty, but
stand before it,
holding a candle,
with lowered eyes.
II
This moth stuck to the window-pane
staring at the quite
inaccessible Light
isn't adequate as a symbol of my
faltering love.
But I have tried to put aside
the obsession that might
have had me ensnared.
There is no beauty in being
hypnotised.
Much better to stand before beauty,
holding a candle
with lowered eyes.
III
Holding with lowered eyes
a candle that illuminates
nothing.
Nothing but the most
delightful shame,
the shame that gives
before your kind
and gentle gaze
a first small glimpse
of Paradise.