 | Poems (1905) |  |
[CONSCIOUS GUILTINESS.]
(Jan. 23, 1813.)
The Good are happy—in the joyful hour
No inward fears the present peace o'erpower,
And in the Evil time the pleasant force
Of conscious Virtue checks it in its Course.
Men all Abandon'd, Desperation all,
Feel not their Guilt nor tremble at their fall;
Vice for herself has found the desperate Cure
And banished thoughts no bosom could endure.
But the most wretched of the Guilty train
Are they who Virtue love and prize in vain;
Griev'd by the Life they yet resolve to lead,
Bound by the Ill, yet panting to be freed—
To them the Ways of Sacred Truth are known,
Yet they proceed and suffer in their Own.
Onward they go, still sighing to retrieve
Their Steps, and longing for the Good they leave.
| Poems (1905) | |