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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
CONSCIENCE, by SAMUEL VALENTINE COLE
First Line: The man of power rejoicing cries, 'I can'
Last Line: Thy law is ever on us and we must.
Subject(s): Conscience
First Line: The man of power rejoicing cries, 'I can'
Last Line: Thy law is ever on us and we must.
Subject(s): Conscience
THE man of power rejoicing cries, "I can;"
"I may," the man of pleasure; but we trust,
And all the world trusts with us, still the man
Hearing a different voice, who says, "I must."
O Conscience, Conscience, how we need thee now!
Wind, fire, and earthquake pass; the time abounds
In these great voices; but, oh, where art thou?
Is thy voice lost amid life's grosser sounds?
Or art thou fled across the golden bars
Of evening with thy purer light to shine
Somewhere far off, beyond the quiet stars,
Far off, and leave us without guide or sign?
Not so; earth's towers and battlements decay;
Thrones tremble and fall; old sceptres lose control:
But, as God lives, thou livest; thou wilt stay,
O Conscience, God's vicegerent in the soul!
We are thy bondmen, and thy ways are good;
Thou art what makes us greater than the dust
We came from; and still, howsoe'er we would,
Thy law is ever on us and we must.
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FOUND WANTING by EMILY DICKINSON
CONSCIENCE AND REMORSE by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR
FROM THE REPUBLIC OF CONSCIENCE by SEAMUS HEANEY
TO HIS CONSCIENCE by ROBERT HERRICK
SONNET: 151 by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
A COWBOY ALONE WITH HIS CONSCIENCE by JAMES BARTON ADAMS
THE COMBAT, BETWEENE CONSCIENCE AND COVETOUSNESSE by RICHARD BARNFIELD
TO HIS WORSHIPFULL GOOD FRIEND, MAISTER JOHN STEVENTON by RICHARD BARNFIELD
FRAGMENTS INTENDED FOR DEATH'S JEST-BOOK: MURDERER'S HAUNTED COUCH by THOMAS LOVELL BEDDOES