46. Jeremiah

{94}
"O that I had in the wilderness a lodging-place of wayfaring
 men; that I might leave my people, and go from them!"

"WOE'S me!" the peaceful prophet cried,
   "Spare me this troubled life;
To stem man's wrath, to school his pride,
   To head the sacred strife!

"O place me in some silent vale,
   Where groves and flowers abound;
Nor eyes that grudge, nor tongues that rail,
   Vex the truth-haunted ground!"

If his meek spirit err'd, opprest
   That God denied repose,
What sin is ours, to whom Heaven's rest
   Is pledged, to heal earth's woes?

Off Galita
.
December 22, 1832.

Top | Contents | Works | Home


Newman Reader — Works of John Henry Newman
Copyright © 2007 by The National Institute for Newman Studies. All rights reserved.