Page:Von Heidenstam - Sweden's laureate, selected poems of Verner von Heidenstam (1919).djvu/58

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Wedding of the Sisters
When thou at Isis' foot drov'st away a man from thy sister,
Thou did'st wrong even Isis. Ah, why should we ever be laying
Our false words on the lips of the gods? For these women here wot of
Only one kind of sin, the sin to which others are subject.
Wine, the kiss of a girl, and the daring jest that will startle
Senile women and men—to the gods above these are blameless.
Moon and stars and sun are gifts of the gods, but so likewise
She the beloved of my youth and my loaf of bread. As like brothers,
Sharing the loaf and the goat-skin flask, we are sitting together,
In the convivial air sprouts the seed from which may in secret
Grow the all-brothering hour.—The sacrifice of atonement
Must be sevenfold more than the sin was. Therefore, my sister,
Give to eternal Hator of Isis' handmaidens seven.
Day and night shall the seven, for thus I interpret the judgment,
Ever be fettered, each one to the priest of Hator she favors."

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