Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE AWAKENING, by HERBERT KAUFMAN


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE AWAKENING, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I am soul-sore and bended and weary
Last Line: The wrongs that I wrought yesterday.
Subject(s): Prayer; Sin


I AM soul-sore and bended and weary,
And my being is ancient and gray;
The heart in my bosom is dreary,
And I long to be up and away.
I want to re-spend what I squandered,
I seek but one chance to repay;
For to-night my soul awakened and wandered
O'er the road to the gone yesterday.
Oh, the wrongs that can never be righted
And the wounds that can never be healed;
The darkness that could have been lighted;
The truths that too late were revealed;
The burdens so readily shifted
And the thorns that I should have withdrawn;
The anguish that might have been lifted
From a heart that was thoughtlessly torn;
The clean things my foolish feet muddied;
The innocent men I judged wrong;
The home that with sorrow I flooded;
The deaf ear I turned to life's song;
The struggler so easily aided;
The wanton whom I might have checked;
The heartlessness that I paraded;
The dear ones I hurt with neglect;
The flower I robbed of its beauty
And tossed in a day to the slime;
The hour I faltered in duty;
The whim whose indulgence was crime:
Oh, God! though I face Thee repentant,
I ask not Thy mercy as yet;
I seek not to find Thee relentent
Until the To-morrow is met.
I thank Thee that Thou hast unshuttered
The blindness that darkened my soul.
My prayer to Thee now is not uttered
In hope to default conscience' toll.
I ask Thee to see me in sorrow
And grant me the prayer that I pray—
That I may make right on the morrow
The wrongs that I wrought yesterday.





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