804
PARTISAN REVIEW
Infallibly induce a peace
Past understanding or high prices:
So many forgivenesses for so many
Double crossings and double dealings–
I know that the married cannot have any
But the most unselfish feelings.
But the wise Church, contemplating
The unnatural demands
That marriage and the art of mating
Make on egoists, commands
We recognize as sacramental
A union otherwise destined
To break in every anarchic wind
Broken by the temperamental.
Off the Tarpeian, for high treason,
Tied in a bag with a snake and a cock,
The traitor trod the Roman rock.
But in the bag for a better reason
The married lovers, cock and snake,
Lie on the Mount of Venus. Traitor
Each to each, fake kissing fake,
So punished by a betrayed creator.
"The willing union of two lives."
This is, the Lords of Justice tell us,
The purpose of the connubial knot.
But I can think of only one
Function that at best contrives
To join the jealous with the jealous,
And what this function joins is not
Lives but the erogenous zone.
I see the young bride move among
The nine-month trophies of her pride,
And though she is not really young
And only virtually a bride
