Shame is a shadow cast by sin: yet shame Itself may be a glory and a grace, Refashioning the sin-disfashioned face; A nobler bruit than hollow-sounded fame, A new-lit lustre on a tarnished name, One virtue pent within an evil place, Strength for the fight, and swiftness for the race, A stinging salve, a life-requickening flame. A slave so searching we may scarcely live, A flame so fierce it seems that we must die, An actual cautery thrust into the heart: Nevertheless, men die not of such smart; And shame gives back what nothing else can give, Man to himself, -- then sets him up on high. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...MUSIC AND MEMORY by JOHN ALBEE A NORTHERN SUBURB by JOHN DAVIDSON AFTER A JOURNEY by THOMAS HARDY THE ROSY BOSOM'D HOURS by COVENTRY KERSEY DIGHTON PATMORE CARELESS LINES ON LABOUR by FRANKLIN PIERCE ADAMS EPITAPH ON SUSANNAH BARBAULD MARISSAL by ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD |