Chastity

[Dark Muse]

I am reading Dorian Gray right now, and there is a remark by Lord Henry about "the seven deadly virtues" which inspired me to write a seris of poems about the negative side of each of the seven virtues.

Chastity

The years erode away
while she remains
imprisoned within her self-
imposed towers, alone,
untouched, unloved.

She may well be a statue
blown from glass for her
fragility, she may shatter
at any moment, a sacrifice
made to touch something
close to perfection.

Barely a thing of flesh
and blood, a withering
Shallot watching life
through shuttered windows.

But even that cursed
maiden was willing to give
it all for one burst of
passionate love.

While her counter-part
like a reflection still trapped
behind the mirror, clings
to a soul sucking purity.

Yet she can never die
because she hasn't
even begun to live.

[MorpheusSandman]

It's a really interesting piece and it brings to mind all of the classic literature written that praises chastity as something sacred, holy, pure. And it's not as if modern culture's obsession with virginity has slackened any, as can be seen by the girl that attempted to sell her virginity, getting offers into the millions. Perhaps being an extremely secular male I don't get it. I'm quite inclined to agree with how you close the piece.

[Dark Muse]

Thank you very much! Yes the obcession with virginity is an interesting thing indeed. I think I recall hearing something about that story, it sounds familair.

[hillwalker]

Such powerful writing, DM. One can sense the torture suffered by someone holding back her virginity like an act of martyrdom (perhaps for religious or social reasons), yet knowing all the time the implied pleasure awaiting her if she decides to let go.

I can't wait for your take on the other six.

H

[Dark Muse]

Thank you!

[_Shannon_]

I really like the idea of the series of poems, and I look forward to reading them!

I love the ideas in this poem and the words chosen--they convey the coldness of tone so well! My one gripe, however, is the stanza about her willing to forgo all of this for a bit of passionate love. As in my (Catholic) mind, there is not chastity....it makes it seem to me that she is chaste not out of virtue, but out of some defect--and I think that takes away from your aim of discussing the dark side of the virtues. All of that said--there is a very good chance I am reading it wrong.

[Dark Muse]

I really like the idea of the series of poems, and I look forward to reading them!

I love the ideas in this poem and the words chosen--they convey the coldness of tone so well! My one gripe, however, is the stanza about her willing to forgo all of this for a bit of passionate love. As in my (Catholic) mind, there is not chastity....it makes it seem to me that she is chaste not out of virtue, but out of some defect--and I think that takes away from your aim of discussing the dark side of the virtues. All of that said--there is a very good chance I am reading it wrong.

The line about the love was comparing her to the Lady of Shallot from Tennyson's poem. Who was cursed and locked in a tower, the way the woman in my poem is in a symbolical tower of her own chastity.

But even Shallot was willing to give up her very life for a the chance to be with Lancelot. Thus in that one moment of passion she knew more of life then the woman who would deny all love just for the sake of being chaste.

[Bar22do]

It reads as sth written so effortlessly... and well! Being Dark Muse you naturally must look for dark, shadowed aspect of the virtues! thus unmasking their (mis)use by humans... a very good idea (it echoes a bit Kieslowski's series around the ten commandments) - thanks and best wishes - Bar

[Dark Muse]

Thank you! hehe yes me being me, I must take that which is intended to be good and twist it around to show its other face.

[PrinceMyshkin]

" I cannot praise a fugitive and cloistered virtue, unexercised and unbreathed, that never sallies out and sees her adversary, but slinks out of the race where that immortal garland is to be run for, not without dust and heat."

Milton, John, Excerpt from Areopagitica

[_Shannon_]

The line about the love was comparing her to the Lady of Shallot from Tennyson's poem. Who was cursed and locked in a tower, the way the woman in my poem is in a symbolical tower of her own chastity.

But even Shallot was willing to give up her very life for a the chance to be with Lancelot. Thus in that one moment of passion she knew more of life then the woman who would deny all love just for the sake of being chaste.

Ah--yes I get the allusion, now. Thanks for splainin':)