LONG fed on boundless hopes, O race of man, How angrily thou spurn'st all simpler fare! Christ, some one says, was human as we are; No judge eyes us from heaven, our sin to scan; We live no more, when we have done our span. 'Well, then, for Christ,' thou answerest, 'who can care? 'From sin, which heaven records not, why forbear? 'Live we like brutes our life without a plan!' So answerest thou; but why not rather say: 'Hath man no second life?--Pitch this one high! 'Sits there no judge in heaven, our sin to see?-- 'More strictly, then, the inward judge obey! 'Was Christ a man like us?--Ah! let us try 'If we then, too, can be such men as he!' | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE THANKSGIVING IN BOSTON HARBOR [JUNE 12, 1630] by HEZEKIAH BUTTERWORTH AT CASTERBRIDGE FAIR: 6. A WIFE WAITS by THOMAS HARDY GOING AND STAYING by THOMAS HARDY MEMORIAL TO D.C.: 5. ELEGY by EDNA ST. VINCENT MILLAY MOUNTAIN PICTURES: 2. MONADNOCK FROM WACHUSETT by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER ODE TO THE SWALLOW by ANACREON RING FROM THE RIM OF THE GLASS, BOYS by JOHN CLINTON ANTHONY |