Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, LAODICEA, by HENRY LONGAN STUART


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

LAODICEA, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: By the fruit I never stole
Last Line: Of the mad and unbaptised?
Subject(s): Innocence


By the fruit I never stole,
For it hung too high for reaching:
By the lie I might have sworn,
But that truth stood out confest:
By the woman's heart left whole
That turned flint to my beseeching:
By each ill design, forborne
As occasion missed the zest:
By the narrow paths I trod,
Faint with longing for the broad:
By the broken spur and trace
That gave panting quarry grace:
By all unsought mercies, found
'Twit the saddle and the ground --

Judge Eternal, dost Thou hearken?

Soon must day be one with night.
Tell me, 'ere the sun shall darken
And the dark design show bright,
'Ere the urgent flame devour
Soul and body for its prey,
Wilt Thou see me in that hour
As I see myself today?

For heaven all unmeet,
Too innocent for hell,
Till the mire about my feet
Foul me, breast and arms as well:
One that has not loved Thy law --
Never broke, save through desire:
Neither ripened ear nor straw,
To be saved nor set afire:
Neither sheep nor goat outcast,
On the Tribune's left nor right --
See me stand beyond Thy face,
Abject still -- still not chastised,
With the risen soulless past
Heedful not how Thou requite,
'Mid the inoffensive race
Of the mad and unbaptised?





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...
Home: PoetryExplorer.net