TENDERLY do we feel by Nature's law For worst offenders: though the heart will heave With indignation, deeply moved we grieve, In after thought, for Him who stood in awe Neither of God nor man, and only saw, Lost wretch, a horrible device enthroned On proud temptations, till the victim groaned Under the steel his hand had dared to draw. But oh, restrain compassion, if its course, As oft befalls, prevent or turn aside Judgments and aims and acts whose higher source Is sympathy with the unforewarned, who died Blameless -- with them that shuddered o'er his grave, And all who from the law firm safety crave. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ON HEARING A LITTLE MUSIC-BOX by JAMES HENRY LEIGH HUNT SONNET ON SITTING DOWN TO READ KING LEAR ONCE AGAIN by JOHN KEATS ARNOLD [VON] WINKELRIED by JAMES MONTGOMERY IMPROMPTU TO LADY WINCHILSEA by ALEXANDER POPE AMORETTI: 19 by EDMUND SPENSER JENNY WI' THE AIRN TEETH by ALEXANDER ANDERSON EMBLEMS OF LOVE: 32. THERE'S NO DEFENCE AGAINST LOVE by PHILIP AYRES |