Lord, Make me chaste, but not yet

Lord, Make me chaste, but not yet

Like the stain'd web that whitens in the sun,
Grow pure by being purely shone upon.

Like the stain'd web that whitens in the sun,
Grow pure by being purely shone upon.

Chastity does not mean abstention from sexual wrong; it means something flaming, like Joan of Arc.

Chastity does not mean abstention from sexual wrong; it means something flaming, like Joan of Arc.

If she seem not chaste to me,
What care I how chaste she be?

If she seem not chaste to me,
What care I how chaste she be?

A nun of winter's sisterhood kisses not more religiously; the
very ice of chastity is in them.

A nun of winter's sisterhood kisses not more religiously; the
very ice of chastity is in them.

Then she rode forth, clothed on with chastity:
The deep air listen'd round her as she rode,
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Then she rode forth, clothed on with chastity:
The deep air listen'd round her as she rode,
And all the low wind hardly breathed for fear.

A nice man is a man of nasty ideas.

A nice man is a man of nasty ideas.

Me of my lawful pleasure she restrained
And prayed me oft forbearance--did it with
A pudency so read more

Me of my lawful pleasure she restrained
And prayed me oft forbearance--did it with
A pudency so rosy, the sweet view on't
Might well have warmed old Saturn--that I thought her
As chaste as unsunned snow.

Mine honor's such a ring;
My chastity's the jewel of our house,
Bequeathed down from many ancestors,
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Mine honor's such a ring;
My chastity's the jewel of our house,
Bequeathed down from many ancestors,
Which were the greatest obloquy i' th' world
In me to lose.