University of Virginia Library


139

April 24 GOOD AND EVIL

The good that I would I do not, but the evil which I would not, that I do.”—Rom. vii. 19.

O Love, in mercy look on me;
Shall I not follow, and be free
To take the treasures Thou dost give?
But chained to this dead body lie,
A dying thing that cannot die—
A living thing that doth not live?
O break these endless links, the curse
That draggeth on from worse to worse.
What I have done is deadly blame,
But what I am is deeper shame
And adds the long entail of sin;
But Thou, who hast a Brother's heart,
Wilt never let me pine apart
When all my cares are so akin.
I ask no heaven, but just to be
Alone (though crucified) with Thee.
Save for Thy Cross I had not known
My God, nor found myself my own,
Nor burst the bondage and the yoke;
But the old nature with its fret
Still stirs at times, and would forget
That in Thine Agony it broke.
The world may whisper it is well,
I carry with me yet my hell.