Page:Poems of Emma Lazarus vol 1.djvu/356

Rh The death-blow to his heart? Cheat not thy soul With empty dreams— -thy Grod hath judged thee guilty!

MARIA.

Have pity, father I Let me tell thee all. Thou, cloistered, holy and austere, know’st not My guttering temptations. My betrayer Was of an angel's aspect. His were all gifts. All grace, all seeming virtue. I was plunged. Deaf, dumb, and blind, and hand-bound in the deep. If a poor drowning creature craved thine aid. Thou wouldst not spurn it. Such a one am I, And all the waves roll over me. Help, help ! Let me not perish ! Wrest me from my doom ! Say not that I am lost !

MONK.

I can but say What the just Spirit prompts. Myself am naught To pardon or condemn. The sin is sinned; The fruit forbid is tasted, yea, and pressed Of its last honeyed juices. Wilt thou now Escape the after-bitterness with prayers, Scourgings, and wringings of the hands? Shall these Undo what has been done ? — make whole the heart