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Poems

By Mary Elizabeth Coleridge

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92

XC
GOODNESS

Shall I be good?
I dare not be as He.
I dare not sin.
Is that the good in me?
“Call me not good!” said He when once He trod
This earth. “There is but one good, that is God.”
Shall I be good?
Vainly I try.
For Satan is more strong,
Braver than I.
Each time I fail before him. From the rood
Look down on me, O God, to me be good!