THEY threw me from the gates: my matted hair Was dank with dungeon wetness; my spent frame O'erlaid with marish agues: everywhere Tortured by leaping pangs of frost and flame, So hideous was I that even Lazarus there In noisome rags arrayed and leprous shame, Beside me set had seemed full sweet and fair, And looked on me with loathing. But one came Who laid a cloak on me and brought me in Tenderly to an hostel quiet and clean; Used me with healing hands for all my needs. The mortal stain of my reputed sin, My state despised, and my defiled weeds, He hath put by as though they had not been. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ILLINOIS FARMER by CARL SANDBURG IF by EDWARD JAMES MORTIMER COLLINS CUPID MISTAKEN by MATTHEW PRIOR SOUTHERN PACIFIC by CARL SANDBURG A FUNERAL CHANT FOR THE OLD YEAR by E. JUSTINE BAYARD THE LAST MAN; A LAKE by THOMAS LOVELL BEDDOES PSALM 10. UT QUID DOMINE by OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE |