Page:Poems - volume 1 - EBBrowning (1844).pdf/267

 We are fools to your deductions, in these figments of heart-closing! We are traitors to your causes, in these sympathies defiled!

"Learn more reverence. Madam, not for rank or wealth—that needs no learning; That comes quickly—quick as sin does! ay, and often works to sin; But for Adam's seed, ! Trust me, 'tis a clay above your scorning, With God's image stamped upon it, and God's kindling breath within.

"What right have you, Madam, gazing in your shining mirror daily, Getting, so, by heart, your beauty, which all others must adore,— While you draw the golden ringlets down your fingers, to vow gaily, You will wed no man that's only good to God,—and nothing more.