 | Three Hundred Sonnets |  |
25
APOLOGY.
For I have sinn'd; oh, grievously and often;Exaggerated ill, and good denied;
Blacken'd the shadows only born to soften;
And Truth's own light unkindly misapplied:
Alas for charities unloved, uncherish'd,
When some stern judgment, haply erring wide,
Hath sent my fancy forth, to dream and tell
Other men's deeds all evil! O my heart,
Renew once more thy generous youth half perish'd,
Be wiser, kindlier, better than thou art:
And first in fitting meekness, offer well
All earnest candid prayers, to be forgiven
For worldly, harsh, unjust, unloveable
Thoughts and suspicions against Man and Heaven.
| Three Hundred Sonnets | |