Люси Ларком (Lucy Larcom)

Purified

How cleanse a heart that is defiled?
God may forgive the sin,
But guilt is canker, and eats in;
Is tempest, bringing shipwreck wild:
Yet only as a little child
Shall man His kingdom win.

The pearl of innocence, once lost,
Can never be replaced
Upon the brow its whiteness graced:
Yet unto swine such pearls are tossed;
And earth is paved with gems of cost,
Scattered in spendthrift waste.

Alas! we cannot purely love,
We cannot nobly hate;
Our tears of blood are wept too late:
With halting steps we upward move,
Fearing lest even our house above
Be left us desolate.

And if there were no Voice to say,
"Go thou, and sin no more!
Love, that forgives, can all restore;
Thou art made whole!" — could any stay
Heart-bare beneath truth's probing ray,
Unscathed by terrors sore?

O Christ! the memory of our sin
Thy healing love will hide;
With Thee our souls in peace abide;
In Thee heaven's childhood we begin:
Thy kingdom we at last shall win,
Not pure, but purified!

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