From W. E. Henly's Prologue to Beau Austin
The Love Letters of Abelard and Heloise, [1901], at sacred-texts.com
'Ah! then, as now--it may be, something more--
Woman and man were human to the core
. . . . . .
They too could risk, they also could rebel,
They could love wisely--they could love too well.
In that great duel of Sex--that ancient strife
Which is the very central fact of life,
They could--and did--engage it breath for breath,
They could--and did--get wounded unto death.
As at all times since time for us began,
Woman was truly woman, man was man.
. . . . . .
Dead--dead and done with! Swift from shine to shade
The roaring generations flit and fade.
To this one, fading, flitting, like the rest,
We come to proffer--be it worst or best--
A sketch, a shadow, of one brave old time;
A hint of what it might have held sublime;
A dream, an idyll, call it what you will,
Of man still Man, and woman--Woman still!'
Woman and man were human to the core
. . . . . .
They too could risk, they also could rebel,
They could love wisely--they could love too well.
In that great duel of Sex--that ancient strife
Which is the very central fact of life,
They could--and did--engage it breath for breath,
They could--and did--get wounded unto death.
As at all times since time for us began,
Woman was truly woman, man was man.
. . . . . .
Dead--dead and done with! Swift from shine to shade
The roaring generations flit and fade.
To this one, fading, flitting, like the rest,
We come to proffer--be it worst or best--
A sketch, a shadow, of one brave old time;
A hint of what it might have held sublime;
A dream, an idyll, call it what you will,
Of man still Man, and woman--Woman still!'
From W. E. HENLY'S Prologue to Beau Austin.