Classic Poem

“Ah! thou art contrite now and strangely livid!
The sin I hail upon thy cheeks is vivid!
Shaken and dumb, thou hast no right to doubt!
In that vague hour, oh! guilty mighty Master,
In that strange hour of peril and disaster,
Why in thy strength didst thou not cast me out?

“What charm had she to change thy sacred mission,
Sow in thy veins the seeds of all perdition?
How could her will so suddenly enmesh
Thy holiness and purity forever,
And all thy future happiness dissever
By her unholy and polluted flesh?

“Ah! canst thou think that I, grown feeble-hearted,
From her low loins at thy first touch departed,
That I was slavish to thy will? Oh, no!
Thy tones were faltering and thy passions wandered;
Too long upon her grace thy spirit pondered;
Thy voice abjuring me was faint and low.

“Unnerved and dazzled by her lissome beauty,
Didst thou with upright heart fulfill thy duty?
Was thy bland soul weighed down by thoughts devout?
Ah, Christ! I tell thee in fierce jubilation,
Hell dragged thee there from thy grand elevation!
Why, doubly warned, didst thou not cast me out?

“Thou answerest not! Where is thy vaunted valor?
Thy brow is hueless in ignoble pallor.
Man of great marvels, thou art strangely dumb.
Thy sin upon thee as spilt blood is scarlet,
For thou before the allurement of a harlot
In sacrilegious passion didst succumb!


“Enough! Thy grouped and worn Disciples yonder
Wonder at thy delay and gravely ponder;
Go, go thy destined way and meet thy fates!
Heal, soothe and pray, sad object of my pity,
And turn thy steps unto the towerful city,
Where in the dreamy dusk thy Mary waits.

“Go to thy cross, and as thou goest, teaching
Consoling creeds, when thou thy faith art preaching,
Remember, in the moaning of the wind
My voice will haunt thee and hell's mocking laughter,
Exultant in its scorn, will follow after
One who has grievously and greatly sinned!”