local boys often swim out to our island / they come to watch / we speak in the old language amongst ourselves to leave them ignorant of our remarks / each we discuss in detail / considering the possibility and suitability of our entering them within our Order / we have been established here some years and as yet no one has been selected / winter comes again / wind and rain dulls and troubles the lake / we remain mostly indoors at work upon the picturing / should we find a boy among the local people whom we simultaneously trust and wish to show our pictures to then he will have been selected to join the order / isolated here / far from centres of population / amongst ourselves all one and the same / quiet servitude to text and pictures / for contrast in our revelries we devote ourselves to individuality / its sparkling charm / myriad Orders within one / you should see us / ecumenical orgy / cork lined walls of stone hung with simple tapestries / large wood fire cradled in altar-hearth / floor a series of terraces stepping up from the fire to meet the wall three sides of the room / covered with our treasure / beautiful thick wool blankets / habitless monks / glimmer of firelight / short white sleeveless tunic gathered at waist by slender bow-tied cord / they are making a story / each contributing as the spirit moves / tale of boys and men as night progresses turns steadily more erotic / what a pretty picture we must make! / tis well no outsides see to laugh and ridicule / next day / late in afternoon / slept well / return to self-appointed tasks / most evenings spent this way / as I write this / top of the tower / small window overlooking the lake / nearest shore / I watch a boy appear at the lake edge and wade to land / I know from experience the water is bitterly cold at night / this time of year / yet he has swum manfully for our isle / two others / here we go