The Sacred Body of My Love
The sacred body of my love,
Equal mate of an equal mate in perfect union blended,
So long so scorned by every trifling scoffer,
Beaten by whips of cords and whips of tongues,
The outcast wanderer banned by monkish gods and puritan men,
Givers so damned, so blushed about yet so hungered for,
At last sets up for itself the claim of noblest origin,
And calls upon the doubting world to hear.
O sacred body of my love!
Let me avow you in words that will be understood:
Do not let me stand back and say nothing while the revilers persecute you
I do not come to you with pretty words but with speechless adoration,
I do not intimate you in occult rhythms but cry out your name in neighborly accents:
Do not mistake my unquailing adhesion, O sacred body of my love!
I am not veiling you in disguises of goddesses and gods and dim figures of mythologic lore,
I quote you in the lives of men and women who live in my own day and street
If I could be ashamed of my father and mother I could be ashamed of you,
And if I could be ashamed of the darling partnership of lovers I could be ashamed of you,
And if I could say the body is not equal to the soul I would have to say the soul is not equal to the body: I could not otherwise understand either:
And if I went back on you, O sacred body of my love, I would have to go back on you, O sacred soul of my love,
For when the body is clean body and soul are one in holiness,
And when the soul is clean soul and body are one in holiness,
And I can see no reason why I should be frank about the soul and be afraid to be frank about the body,
For if either one is less worth while than the other then God has monstrously blundered
I wash my mind out before I dream anything about you, O sacred spirit of my love,
And I wash my mouth out before I say anything about you, O sacred body of my love,
And I address you, O my body, in the last fond epithets of surrender that everybody may hear,
And if there are ears to which the sound of my glad approval is unpleasant let them be stuffed with ascetic scripture,
For I am determined to talk only in such a way as will not mislead your enemies,
And I will not apologize and will withdraw nothing,
No more than I will apologize for my dear children or withdraw them.
The time has come for us to square accounts with the body,
The time has come for us to acknowledge that no one can be honest with the soul who is not honest with the body,
And that if the universe dont mean right by the body it has no chance left to mean right by the soul
I am tired of the songs and philosophies of the pausers and sappers:
They have had their way long enough—they have blasphemed the body long enough:
Now I say we must all gather ourselves on the side of reverence,
Answering with a triumphant yes the questions of the ardent blood,
Refusing hereafter to be consigned to the seedless desert,
Passing with prodigal benefaction through the passions of the flesh to surpassing harvests,
Lending the body to the spirit in equal value for equal value bestowed
Let those who must shudder over my bald confession retire:
Let the mother retire forgetting her son, and the son his mother,
Let the lover retire forgetting his beautiful comrade,
Let the fruit retire forgetting the seed from which it came,
Let the dear lips we kiss retire and the dear embracing arms,
For now I give it out as my unalterable resolution,
That the body shall always come in for its share of respect and not have to admit impossible sins,
Because somehow when the best is said of the body better cannot be said of the soul,
And the man or woman who is not prepared to say beautiful things about the body is not prepared to say beautiful things about the soul:
O sacred body of my love!
Equal mate of an equal mate in perfect union blended,
So long so scorned by every trifling scoffer,
Beaten by whips of cords and whips of tongues,
The outcast wanderer banned by monkish gods and puritan men,
Givers so damned, so blushed about yet so hungered for,
At last sets up for itself the claim of noblest origin,
And calls upon the doubting world to hear.
O sacred body of my love!
Let me avow you in words that will be understood:
Do not let me stand back and say nothing while the revilers persecute you
I do not come to you with pretty words but with speechless adoration,
I do not intimate you in occult rhythms but cry out your name in neighborly accents:
Do not mistake my unquailing adhesion, O sacred body of my love!
I am not veiling you in disguises of goddesses and gods and dim figures of mythologic lore,
I quote you in the lives of men and women who live in my own day and street
If I could be ashamed of my father and mother I could be ashamed of you,
And if I could be ashamed of the darling partnership of lovers I could be ashamed of you,
And if I could say the body is not equal to the soul I would have to say the soul is not equal to the body: I could not otherwise understand either:
And if I went back on you, O sacred body of my love, I would have to go back on you, O sacred soul of my love,
For when the body is clean body and soul are one in holiness,
And when the soul is clean soul and body are one in holiness,
And I can see no reason why I should be frank about the soul and be afraid to be frank about the body,
For if either one is less worth while than the other then God has monstrously blundered
I wash my mind out before I dream anything about you, O sacred spirit of my love,
And I wash my mouth out before I say anything about you, O sacred body of my love,
And I address you, O my body, in the last fond epithets of surrender that everybody may hear,
And if there are ears to which the sound of my glad approval is unpleasant let them be stuffed with ascetic scripture,
For I am determined to talk only in such a way as will not mislead your enemies,
And I will not apologize and will withdraw nothing,
No more than I will apologize for my dear children or withdraw them.
The time has come for us to square accounts with the body,
The time has come for us to acknowledge that no one can be honest with the soul who is not honest with the body,
And that if the universe dont mean right by the body it has no chance left to mean right by the soul
I am tired of the songs and philosophies of the pausers and sappers:
They have had their way long enough—they have blasphemed the body long enough:
Now I say we must all gather ourselves on the side of reverence,
Answering with a triumphant yes the questions of the ardent blood,
Refusing hereafter to be consigned to the seedless desert,
Passing with prodigal benefaction through the passions of the flesh to surpassing harvests,
Lending the body to the spirit in equal value for equal value bestowed
Let those who must shudder over my bald confession retire:
Let the mother retire forgetting her son, and the son his mother,
Let the lover retire forgetting his beautiful comrade,
Let the fruit retire forgetting the seed from which it came,
Let the dear lips we kiss retire and the dear embracing arms,
For now I give it out as my unalterable resolution,
That the body shall always come in for its share of respect and not have to admit impossible sins,
Because somehow when the best is said of the body better cannot be said of the soul,
And the man or woman who is not prepared to say beautiful things about the body is not prepared to say beautiful things about the soul:
O sacred body of my love!
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