ONCE, as I brooded o'er my guilty state, A fever seized me, duties to devise, To buy me interest in my Saviour's eyes; Not that His love I would extenuate, But scourge and penance, masterful self-hate, Or gift of cost, served by an artifice To quell my restless thoughts and envious sighs And doubts, which fain heaven's peace would antedate Thus as I tossed, He said: -- "E'en holiest deeds Shroud not the soul from God, nor soothe its needs; Deny thee thine own fears, and wait the end!" Stern lesson! Let me con it day by day, And learn to kneel before the Omniscient Ray, Nor shrink, when Truth's avenging shafts descend! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A CHARACTER OF JOSEPH PRIESTLY by ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD A RONDEAU OF REGRETS by HENRI BAUDE HINC LACHRIMAE; OR THE AUTHOR TO AURORA: 20 by WILLIAM BOSWORTH BEYOND RECALL by MARY EMILY NEELEY BRADLEY |