"Love, Vice, Crime, and Sin"

Image
Text
Author
Marc-André Raffalovich
Year
1895
Description

Raffalovich published the following poem during the same period where he ran a salon in London. It was here where Raffalovich met his life-long partner, John Gray, through his friend Oscar Wilde. This poem describes the narrator falling in love with a man, an act considered both illegal and immoral at the time. The abab rhyme scheme creates an innocent sing-song effect, while the emphasis on the pleasures of Love create juxtaposition with the ideas of Vice, Crime, and Sin. 

Text

The lips of Vice were painted,

     The face of Vice was white,

Love passed on unacquainted,

     Intent on Love's delight.

 

And though Love's heart beat faster

     Beneath the eyes of Crime,

His breath he strove to master,

    And hummed a foolish rhyme.

 

But when the sun was shining

    Love reached a shadowy place,

And there at last reclining

    Sin had his true love's face.

Title of volume of first printing
The Thread and the Path. [Poems.].
Publisher
David Nutt
Citation

White, Chris, editor. Nineteenth-century Writings on Homosexuality: A Sourcebook. Routledge, 1999.