O FATHER, list a sinner's call! Fain would I hide from man my fall -- But I must speak, or faint -- I cannot wear guilt's silent thrall: Cleanse me, kind Saint! "Sinner ne'er blunted yet sin's goad; Speed thee, my son, a safer road, And sue His pardoning smile Who walk'd woe's depths, bearing man's load Of guilt the while." Yet raise a mitigating hand, And minister some potion bland, Some present fever-stay! Lest one for whom His work was plann'd Die from dismay. "Look not to me -- no grace is mine; But I can lift the Mercy-sign. This wouldst thou? Let it be! Kneel down, and take the word divine, ABSOLVO TE." | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE DEAD DRUMMER; A LEGEND OF SALISBURY PLAIN by RICHARD HARRIS BARHAM PSALM 126 by OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE THE DOOMED OAK; IN IMITATION OF ANATOLE FRANCE by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN TO EMILY DICKINSON by MARY BOWEN BRAINERD WRITTEN IN ASPIN CAVE by EMILY JANE BRONTE EARTH AND HER PRAISERS by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING |