You are too beautiful to be spared—
you must die to yourself.

Unveil your glittering chastity
without form,

And let the void be
the instrument of your visioning;

Let the marvelously alien
be your own secret church

From whose reaches resound
your deepest incantation:

Orphanus sum, I am an orphan,
and I bloom renascent.

 

Artwork by: William Meritt Chase