Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE HERETIC: 4. HUMILITY, by LOUIS UNTERMEYER


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THE HERETIC: 4. HUMILITY, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Oh god, if I have ever been / so filled with ignorance and sin
Last Line: A faith that flaunts its very disbelief.
Alternate Author Name(s): Lewis, Michael
Subject(s): Humility


OH God, if I have ever been
So filled with ignorance and sin
That I have dared to use Thy name
In blasphemy, in jest, in shame;
If ever I have dared to flout
Thy works, and mock Thy deeds with doubt,
Thou must forgive me as Thou art divine
For, God, the fault was Thine as well as mine.

Oh, I have used Thee, time on time,
To fill a phrase, to round a rhyme;
But was this wrong? Nay, in Thy heart
Thou knowest the noble theme Thou art...
Was it my fault that as I sung
The daring speech was on my tongue?
Nay; if my singing, God, gave Thee offense,
Thou wouldst have robbed me of the lyric sense.

But dignity hath made Thee dumb,
And so Thou biddest me to come
And be a sonant part of Thee;
To sing Thy praise in blasphemy,
To be the life within the clod
That points the paradox of God.
To chant, beneath a loud and lyric grief,
A faith that flaunts its very disbelief.





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