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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE RELAPSE by JOSEPH BEAUMONT

First Line: WERT THOU NOT WHAT THOU ART
Last Line: SETT OPE, & BLEED OUT EVERY THING BUT THEE.
Subject(s): FORGIVENESS; SELF-PITY; SIN; CLEMENCY;
WERT Thou not what Thou art,
O Lord of most unbounded LOVE;
This my rebellious Heart
Durst never prove
So bold as to implore
Thy Pardon any more,
Bycause my Boldnes hath so rampant been
Against thy mighty Mercy to my Sinn.

2

For have not I again
Resum'd that odious Vomit, which
Of late I did disdain?
Has not the Itch
Of fond Imaginations,
And fruitless Contemplations
Spred its unquiet Taint's unhappy powers
Over my calm & consecrated houres?

3

Has not my foolish Minde
Foulie misplac'd its Sorrow, and
Been troubled more to finde
Thine angry Hand
Pouring out Vengeance; then
To see my Flood of Sinn,
Whose roaring Waves awak'd thy Wrath, which now
In woefull Streams of Blood about doth flow.

4

Has not my lavish Breast
Embrac'd my pretious Friend too close:
The thoughts of whome possest
Me so, that those
Which I design'd to be
Attending upon Thee
Were often justled out, whilst thus my faint
Devotions, from my God fell to my Saint.

5

O mighty Soverain
Of Pittie, Loe my prostrate Heart
Lies trembling once again
Under thy Dart:
Strike, strike, & pierce it by
LOVES healing cruelty;
That by that blessed Wound my Soule may be
Sett ope, & bleed out every thing but Thee.



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