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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


IMPENITENCE by HARRY HIBBARD KEMP

First Line: I REJOICE THAT I HAVE SINNED
Last Line: WHO HAS SUFFERED, WHO HAS SEEN.
Subject(s): FORGIVENESS; RELIGION; SIN; CLEMENCY; THEOLOGY;

I REJOICE that I have sinned,
I am glad that ONCE I cast
All my scruples to the wind—
Thus I gathered life at last.

I am glad that I have gone
Where no honest thing is seen,
Dared the night to feel the dawn
Wash about me large and clean.

All the mystery of ill
Gathered into force in me,
Of all evil I took skill
And it taught me purity.

Nay, there lingers no regret:
I have looked thro' other eyes,
Loosing folly without let
That I might wax folly-wise.

Now with charity I scan
Those who lurk where I have been,
For HIS lips condemn no man,
Who has suffered, who has seen.



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