| Arthur Quiller-Couch, comp. The Oxford Book of Victorian Verse. 1922. | | | | The True Martyr | | By Thomas Wade (1805–1875) |
| | | THE MARTYR worthiest of the bleeding name | |
| Is he whose life a bloodless part fulfils; | |
| Whom racks nor tortures tear, nor poniard kills, | |
| Nor heat of bigots’ sacrificial flame: | |
| But whose great soul can to herself proclaim | 5 |
| The fulness of the everlasting ills | |
| Wherewith all pain’d Creation writhes and thrills, | |
| And yet pursue unblench’d her solemn aim: | |
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| Who works, all knowing work’s futility, | |
| Creates, all conscious of ubiquitous death, | 10 |
| And hopes, believes, adores, while Destiny | |
| Points from Life’s steep to all her graves beneath: | |
| Whose thought ’mid scorching woes is found apart, | |
| Perfect amid the flames, like Cranmer’s heart. | | | | |
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