Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

ODE: OF OUR SENSE OF SIN by EDWARD HERBERT

First Line: VENGEANCE WILL SIT ABOVE OUR FAULTS, BUT TILL
Last Line: HIMSELF KNOWS MORE.
Subject(s): SIN;
VENGEANCE will sit above our faults, but till
She there doth sit,
We see her not, nor them. Thus, blind, yet still
We lead her way; and thus, whilst we do ill,
We suffer it.

Unhappy he whom youth makes not beware
Of doing ill.
Enough we labour under age and care;
In number th' errors of the last place are
The greatest still.

Yet we, that should the ill we new begin
As soon repent,
(Strange thing!) perceive not; our faults ne'er are seen
But past us; neither felt, but only in
Our punishment.

But we know ourselves least: mere outward shows
Our minds so store,
That our souls no more than our eyes disclose
But form and colour. Only he who knows
Himself knows more.



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