<h2><SPAN name="Sacrament" id="Sacrament"></SPAN>Sacrament</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">Beloved mine! we cannot falter now;<br/></span>
<span class="i0">No threats avail, no claims affect this hour;<br/></span>
<span class="i0">That kiss, far more than sacerdotal vow<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Or golden circlet, making truly one<br/></span>
<span class="i0">—More solemn than any oath—<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Hath passed our lips:<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Whilst Love, the great compeller, the mighty power<br/></span>
<span class="i0">In his bewildering hand, hath seized us both.<br/></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">No pardon comes for those who wrongly read<br/></span>
<span class="i0">The books on stone engraved—<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Our Primal Laws—<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Or fail to satisfy the unchanging Cause;<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Who reach this height, and fail, are dead indeed:<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Their being void, their souls are cast without;<br/></span>
<span class="i0">And from the Book their names are blotted out.<br/></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">There is no holding back, no base endeavour,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">The cup of true communion is filled,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">The sacrament prepared as we have willed;<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Hand joined to hand in clasp that none can sever;<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Our quittance sure, our resolution taken,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">With vows fulfilled we face the world unshaken;<br/></span>
<span class="i0">And each to each we pledge ourselves for ever.<br/></span>
<span class="pagenum">[12]</span></div>
</div>
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