Celibacy
(Father Geoffrey Keating sang this)

Woman full of wile,
Take your hand away:
Nothing tempts me though
Sick for love you pray.

See this hair how greyed!
See this flesh, how weak!
See this wasted blood!
‒Tell me what you seek.

Think me not perverse;
Never bow your head;
Let love last as now,
Slender witch, instead.

Take your mouth from mine,
Kissing’s bitterer still;
Flesh from flesh must part
Lest of warmth come will.

Your twined, branching hair,
Your grey eye, dew-bright,
Your rich, rounded breast
Turn to lust the sight.

All but sleep with you,
Yield my flesh as thrall,
Woman full of wile,
You are free of all!

FRANK O’CONNOR (tr.)
Irish Statesman, 1926-02-06, Vol.5 #22, p.682-683