| Alfred H. Miles, ed. The Sacred Poets of the Nineteenth Century. 1907. | | | Amenophis and Other Poems (1892).
VII. A Hymn of Repentance | | By Francis Turner Palgrave (1824–1897) |
| | | WHEN low on life’s horizon, sunk from heaven, | |
| The sun goes down, and night collects on high, | |
| And grisly shapes of sin, as clouds storm-driven, | |
| In sad procession move against the sky, | |
| Lord, who can bear to die? | 5 |
| But Thou say’st, No; | |
| Not so; not so:— | |
| Though in death’s twilight terror take thee, | |
| I will not leave thee or forsake thee. | |
| |
| They pass, the sins of youth, once loved, now loathéd, | 10 |
| In Passion’s purple hues and folly dyed; | |
| The sins of age, with leper whiteness clothéd;— | |
| The lust, the lie, the selfishness, the pride: | |
| Who may such sight abide? | |
| But Thou say’st, No; | 15 |
| Not so; not so:— | |
| Though dark remorse and shame o’ertake thee, | |
| I will not leave thee or forsake thee. | |
| |
| O Lord and Judge, when from Thy mouth the sentence, | |
| Flames, and with prostrate knee and downcast eyes | 20 |
| We sigh before the Throne our late repentance, | |
| How should the spirit hope for wings to rise | |
| To Heaven’s own Paradise? | |
| But Thou say’st, No; | |
| Not so; not so;— | 25 |
| To Him Who bled for man betake thee; | |
| He will not leave thee or forsake thee. | |
| |
| Thrice-holy Child, Who, pure from pure proceeding, | |
| By Mary’s side in gifts and graces grew; | |
| Thou Who for our sake once hung pale and bleeding, | 30 |
| Wilt Thou exact from me the penance due, | |
| Whose sins Thy death renew? | |
| But Thou say’st, No; | |
| Not so; not so;— | |
| Close to My wounded side I take thee; | 35 |
| I will not leave thee or forsake thee. | | | | |
|
|
