Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE SCARS OF SIN by JOHN HENRY NEWMAN

Poet Analysis

First Line: MY SMILE IS BRIGHT, MY GLANCE IS FREE
Last Line: SCAR-SEAM'D AND CRIPPLED STILL.
Subject(s): SIN;
MY smile is bright, my glance is free,
My voice is calm and clear;
Dear friend, I seem a type to thee
Of holy love and fear.

But I am scann'd by eyes unseen,
And these no saint surround;
They mete what is by what has been,
And joy the lost is found.

Erst my good Angel shrank to see
My thoughts and ways of ill;
And now he scarce dare gaze on me,
Scar-seam'd and crippled still.



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