Explore "He That Looketh" by Ella Wheeler Wilcox on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Yea, she and I have broken God's command, / And in His sight are branded with our shame. / And yet I do not even know her name, / Nor ever in my life have touched her hand / Or brushed her garments. But I chanced to stand / Beside her in the throng! A sweet, swift flame / Shot from her flesh to mine-and hers the blame / Of willing looks that fed it; aye, that fanned / The glow within me to a hungry fire.
There was an invitation in her eyes. / Had she met mine with coldness or surprise, / I had not plunged on headlong in the mire / Of amorous thought. The flame leaped high and higher; / Her breath and mine pulsated into sighs, / And soft glance melted into glance kiss-wise, / And in God's sight both yielded to desire.