O FATHER, list a sinner's call! Fain would I hide from man my fall -- But I must speak, or faint -- I cannot wear guilt's silent thrall: Cleanse me, kind Saint! "Sinner ne'er blunted yet sin's goad; Speed thee, my son, a safer road, And sue His pardoning smile Who walk'd woe's depths, bearing man's load Of guilt the while." Yet raise a mitigating hand, And minister some potion bland, Some present fever-stay! Lest one for whom His work was plann'd Die from dismay. "Look not to me -- no grace is mine; But I can lift the Mercy-sign. This wouldst thou? Let it be! Kneel down, and take the word divine, ABSOLVO TE." | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE WAY THROUGH THE WOODS by RUDYARD KIPLING SUNKEN GOLD by EUGENE JACOB LEE-HAMILTON VALENTINES TO MY MOTHER: 1885 by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI AT BAY RIDGE, LONG ISLAND by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH HINTS OF AN HISTORICAL PLAY TO BE CALLED WILLIAM RUFUS by RICHARD HARRIS BARHAM |