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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


REPENTANCE by GEORGE SYLVESTER VIERECK

First Line: HOT TEARS OF ANGER WASH MY CHEEK LIKE RAIN
Last Line: WITH MY OWN HANDS I CLUTCH THE CUP OF GALL!
Subject(s): REPENTANCE; PENITENCE;

HOT tears of anger wash my cheek like rain,
Am I a slave then, whom the laws control,
Abject and old, unreverenced? -- My soul
I sought to free from fetters, and again
I hear the clanging of that prison chain
That the dead years upon our lives impose,
Which still to bind a thousand prophets rose,
And which to break full thousand died in vain.
I have offended, yea, and suddenly
Things that I thought long stifled rise in me,
And though I know there be not right nor wrong,
That the proud pillars of our faith must fall;
Yet by my weakness grows repentance strong,
With my own hands I clutch the cup of gall!




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