Classic Poem

“I scorn thy sanctity, supreme and natal,
For thou well knowest thy odious fault and fatal;
Lured by my wiles a God thou hast betrayed!
Better for thee hadst thou allowed me, quiet,
Within the carrion of my choice to riot,
Than thy sublimity to have displayed.

“For I tell to thee, visionary, dreamer,
False seer, false prophet, insincere redeemer,
Doomed to my hate and to immortal fame,
That thou, like some frail reed by tempests stricken,
Wilt cower aghast while all thy blood will quicken,
When thou hast heard the meaning of my name.

“I was cast forth by thee, elate, insulting,
But, unabashed, in my defeat exulting,
I now unto thy borrowed power reply,
That I, than thou, of future calm am surer,
That I, though soiled and sad, than thou am purer
That I immortal am, while thou shalt die!

“To do my task allotted I have striven;
To thee another grander one was given,
And heaven was thine if thou didst not betray;
Now thou hast sinned, while terrible and tearful
Thy life will be in coming trials fearful,
And this with joy I tell to thee to-day!

“Ah! the white pallors of thy forehead darken!
Christ, ere I go, unto my last words hearken,
And vex me with anathemas no more.
Answer, mock Savior, why didst thou eject me
From that low begging clod, and not detect me
In other guise and cast me out before?

“How, with thy gifts of divination glorious,
Didst thou not find and hurl me forth victorious
From far more tainted flesh than his, the time
When thou, oh God! aware of my temptation,
Didst fail to scorn hell's subtle intimation,
And fearlessly descended into crime?

“Thou shrinkest! It was I who, mute and wary,
Possessed before the form impure of Mary,
One who is called and is the Magdalene,
One who had cloyed thee with her fond caresses,
Who bathed thy feet with unguents and soft tresses,
One on whose breast thy forehead thou didst screen!