Thus through these griefs I had been set apart, <br />As for a double priesthood. Life to me, <br />In those first moments when I probed my heart, <br />Less an enchantress seemed than enemy. <br />My knowledge of the world had nothing human. <br />I saw Mankind a tribe, my natural foe, <br />Whom I must one day battle with; and Woman, <br />Ah! Woman was a snare I did not know. <br />Indeed, it may be that already hope <br />Knocked at my soul with tales it dared not own <br />Of woman's kindness in my horoscope. <br />Man, only Man I feared with eyes bent down, <br />Man the oppressor, who with pale lips curled <br />Sheds blood in the high places of the world.<br /><br />Wilfrid Scawen Blunt<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/esther-a-sonnet-sequence-xxiv/
