Classic Poem

WHEREIN HE REPENTS HIS ERRORS AND PLEADS FOR MERCY FROM ETERNAL DAMNATION

Love kept me one and twenty years a slave;
His flame was bliss, his agony was hope;
When with my heart my Lady reached the Slope
Star-swept, my tears ten summers drenched her grave.
Now, shattered quite, I loathe the life that gave
No comfort to the holy seeds that grope
Toward virtue; now the lost years twist a rope
Around my throat and conscience calls me knave.
Exalted God, in Thee life would have found
Renewed devotion, dark peace out of pain,
Some restitution for the years so vain:
O Father, in this prison Thou hast bound
My soul — O bless me yet, do Thou unchain
The spirit! Let me kneel in holy ground!