Not they who know the awful gibbet's anguish, Not they who, while sad years go by them, in The sunless cells of lonely prisons languish, Do suffer fullest penalty for sin. 'T is they who walk the highways unsuspected Yet with grim fear forever at their side, Who hug the corpse of some sin undetected, A corpse no grave or coffin-lid can hide -- 'T is they who are in their own chambers haunted By thoughts that like unbidden guests intrude, And sit down, uninvited and unwanted, And make a nightmare of the solitude. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...TO FLUSH, MY DOG by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING BYRON by CINCINNATUS HEINE MILLER COLUMBUS [JANUARY, 1487] by LYDIA HUNTLEY SIGOURNEY A CHARACTER by ALFRED TENNYSON THE PRELUDE: BOOK 1. CHILDHOOD AND SCHOOL-TIME by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH ECHO by AULUS LICINIUS ARCHIAS THE WAGES OF PRIDE by CHARLES BAUDELAIRE LETTER TO B.W. PROCTOR, ESQ., FROM OXFORD; MAY, 1825 by THOMAS LOVELL BEDDOES SILVIO'S COMPLAINT: A SONG, TO A FINE SCOTCH TUNE by APHRA BEHN |