62. Humiliation

{117}
I HAVE been honour'd and obey'd,
     I have met scorn and slight;
And my heart loves earth's sober shade,
     More than her laughing light.

For what is rule but a sad weight
     Of duty and a snare?
What meanness, but with happier fate
     The Saviour's Cross to share?

This my hid choice, if not from heaven,
     Moves on the heavenward line;
Cleanse it, good Lord, from earthly leaven,
     And make it simply Thine.

Lazaret, Malta
.
January 16, 1833.

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Newman Reader — Works of John Henry Newman
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