The Poetry of Real Life | ||
81
PRIDE.
Pride is the stubbornest sin with which Man hasTo struggle—it assumes so many shapes,
And, at the moment when 'tis caught, escapes,
Disguised like virtue! if you hold the glass
Of truth to it, and show it therein as
It is, it seems to stand rebuked, and apes
Humility: and thus thy virtue saps
The surer—thou hast put on the cuirass
Of spiritual warfare 'gainst a foe,
Who, in thy very triumph, doth o'erthrow
His victor, and in secret doth deride:
For thou art proud of having conquered Pride;
And, when thou seem'st most humble, he will glide
Into thy heart, proud still of being so!
The Poetry of Real Life | ||