Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE UNPARDONABLE SIN, by NICHOLAS VACHEL LINDSAY


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE UNPARDONABLE SIN, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: This is the sin against the holy ghost
Last Line: To set the face and make the heart a stone.
Alternate Author Name(s): Lindsay, Vachel
Subject(s): Bible; Religion; Sin; War; Theology


This is the sin against the Holy Ghost: --
To speak of bloody power at right divine,
And call on God to guard each vile chief's house,
And for such chiefs, turn men to wolves and swine: --

To go forth killing in White Mercy's name,
Making the trenches stink with spattered brains,
Tearing the nerves and arteries apart,
Sowing with flesh the unreaped golden plains.

In any Church's name, to sack fair towns,
And turn each home into a screaming sty,
To make little children fugitive,
And have their mothers for a quick death cry, --

This is the sin against the Holy Ghost:
This is the sin no purging can atone: --
To send forth rapine in the name of Christ: --
To set the face and make the heart a stone.




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