09.08.2014, 14:13
THE REAPER
IF one should with his final breath repent
And prostrate all his soul for evil ways
In hope of mercy, if his clouding gaze,
Now catching light that hitherto was spent
In vain for him, sees every wrong event
In his whole span of years, as in a blaze
Of sudden fire one sees with the stark amaze
Wide tracts of dusty ruin, where a rent
Yawns through the earth, will he go down to sleep
With no more debt to pay because of sin ?
It may not be ! his very hands must reap,
Until the hideous crop be gathered in,
All he hath sown ; and though he cry and weep
He hath no rest till all be clean within.
IF one should with his final breath repent
And prostrate all his soul for evil ways
In hope of mercy, if his clouding gaze,
Now catching light that hitherto was spent
In vain for him, sees every wrong event
In his whole span of years, as in a blaze
Of sudden fire one sees with the stark amaze
Wide tracts of dusty ruin, where a rent
Yawns through the earth, will he go down to sleep
With no more debt to pay because of sin ?
It may not be ! his very hands must reap,
Until the hideous crop be gathered in,
All he hath sown ; and though he cry and weep
He hath no rest till all be clean within.