Poem by Gilbert Keith Chesterton

The Unpardonable Sin

I do not cry, beloved, neither curse.
Silence and strength, these two at least are good.
He gave me sun and start and aught He could,
But not a woman's love; for that is hers.

He sealed her heart from sage and questioner --
Yea, with seven seals, as he has sealed the grave.
And if she give it to a drunken slave,
The Day of Judgment shall not challenge her.

Only this much: if one, deserving well,
Touching your thin young hands and making suit,
Feel not himself a crawling thing, a brute,
Buried and bricked in a forgotten hell;

Prophet and poet be he over sod,
Prince among angels in the highest place,
God help me, I will smite him on the face,
Before the glory of the face of God. 

1. The March of the Black Mountain
2. Blessed Are the Peacemakers
3. The Crusader Returns from Captivity
4. To M. E. W.
5. Glencoe

Vachel Lindsay The Unpardonable Sin ("This is the sin against the Holy Ghost: —")

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