Page:Songs, Legends, and Ballads.djvu/86

74 A sculptor once a granite statue made,
 * One-sided only, just to fit its place:

The unseen side was monstrous; so men shade
 * Their evil acts behind a smihng face.

O blind! foolish! thus our sins to hide,
 * And force our pleading hearts the gall to sip;

O cowards! who must eat the myrrh, that Pride
 * May smile like Virtue with a lying lip.

A sin admitted is nigh half atoned;
 * And while the fault is red and freshly done,

If we but drop our eyes and think,—'tis owned,—
 * 'Tis half forgiven, half the crown is won.

But if we heedless let it reek and rot.
 * Then pile a mountain on its grave, and turn.

With smiles to all the world,—that tainted spot
 * Beneath the mound will never cease to burn.