If I could shut the gate against my thoughts And keep out sorrow from this room within, Or memory could cancel all the notes Of my misdeeds, and I unthink my sin: How free, how clear, how clean my soul should lie, Discharged of such a loathsome company! Or were there other rooms without my heart That did not to my conscience join so near, Where I might lodge the thoughts of sin apart That I might not their clam'rous crying hear; What peace, what joy, what ease should I possess, Freed from their horrors that my soul oppress! But, O my Saviour, who my refuge art, Let thy dear mercies stand 'twixt them and me, And be the wall to separate my heart So that I may at length repose me free; That peace, and joy, and rest may be within, And I remain divided from my sin. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE LAST JUDGMENT by JOHN CROWE RANSOM BOSTON HYMN; READ IN MUSIC HALL, JANUARY 1, 1863 by RALPH WALDO EMERSON THE LITANY [TO THE HOLY SPIRIT] by ROBERT HERRICK MUSIC OF NATURE by E. JUSTINE BAYARD TO HIS DEAR FRIEND THOMAS RANDOLPH, ON HIS COMEDY 'THE JEALOUS LOVERS' by RICHARD BENEFIELD THE MAPLE TREE OVER THE WAY by LEVI BISHOP |