Excerpt from Thais by Anatole France

     He said–“I love thee, O Thais! I love thee more than my life, and more than
myself. For thee I have quitted the desert; for thee my lips–vowed to silence–have pronounced profane words; For thee I have seen what I ought not to have seen, and heard what it was forbidden to me to hear; For thee my soul is troubled, my heart is open, and the thoughts gush out like the running springs at which the pigeons drink; For thee I have walked day and night across sandy deserts teeming with reptiles and vampires; for thee I have placed my bare foot on vipers and scorpions!
    Yes, I love thee! I love thee, but not like those men who, burning with
the lusts of the flesh, come to thee like devouring wolves or furious
bulls.
    Thou art dear to them as is the gazelle to the lion. Their ravening lusts will consume thee to the soul, O woman! I love thee in spirit and in truth; I love thee in God, and for ever and ever; that which is in my breast is named true zeal and divine charity.
I promise thee better things than drunkenness crowned with flowers or the dreams
of a brief night.
    I promise thee holy feasts and celestial suppers. The happiness that I bring thee will never end; it is unheard-of, it is ineffable, and such that if the happy of this world could only see a shadow of it they would die of wonder.”