How cleanse a heart that is defiled? God may forgive the sin, But guilt is canker, and eats in; Is tempest, bringing shipwreck wild: Yet only as a little child Shall man His kingdom win. The pearl of innocence, once lost, Can never be replaced Upon the brow its whiteness graced: Yet unto swine such pearls are tossed; And earth is paved with gems of cost, Scattered in spendthrift waste. Alas! we cannot purely love, We cannot nobly hate; Our tears of blood are wept too late: With halting steps we upward move, Fearing lest even our house above Be left us desolate. And if there were no Voice to say, "Go thou, and sin no more! Love, that forgives, can all restore; Thou art made whole!" -- could any stay Heart-bare beneath truth's probing ray, Unscathed by terrors sore? O Christ! the memory of our sin Thy healing love will hide; With Thee our souls in peace abide; In Thee heaven's childhood we begin: Thy kingdom we at last shall win, Not pure, but purified! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...IN DISPRAISE OF THE MOON by MARY ELIZABETH COLERIDGE SONNET TO A NEGRO IN HARLEM by HELENE JOHNSON DAFFODILS by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH WE ARE SEVEN by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH WOMEN'S WAR THOUGHTS by MARY HUNTER AUSTIN ASPIRATIONS: 5 by MATHILDE BLIND |