| T. R. Smith, comp. Poetica Erotica: Rare and Curious Amatory Verse. 1921–22. | | | | Selfishness | | By Alfred Bryan (1871–1958) |
| | (From Pagan Love Lyrics, 1921)
SHE whom I love must be above reproach; | |
| Must veil her face to all admiring eyes; | |
| Must droop her lids to all admiring lovers; | |
| Must not betray the beauty of her limbs | |
| To him and him and him and him. | 5 |
| She must be all our mothers must have been, | |
| And all we think our sisters are | |
| From all the crowd apart, too pure to mar. | |
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| But when alone with me—then she may be: | |
| She may be lewd as Messaline was lewd. | 10 |
| She may be nude, and still remain a prude. | |
| ’Tis nothing wrong that she may do with me; | |
| She’s still a woman, chaste, with modesty. | |
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| But let her be of these with other men, | |
| God pity her, for she is,—well, what they? | 15 |
| A harlot, scarlet, crimsoned courtesan per se | |
| She’s worse than that if she’s not true to me. | | | | |
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