CONFITEOR 



** And hast thou naught to repent, my son? 



Dost thou scorn confession and shrift ? 

 Ere thy sands from the glass of time shall run, 

 Is there naught undone that thou should'st 

 have done, 



Naught done that thou should'st have left ? 

 The guiltiest soul may from guilt be won. 



And the stoniest heart may be cleft." 



*' Have my ears been closed to the prayer of 

 the poor. 



Or deaf to the cry of distress ? 

 Have I given little, and taken more.'^ 

 Have I brought a curse to the widow's door ? 



Have I wrong'd the fatherless? 

 Have I steep' t my fingers in guiltless gore, 



That I must perforce confess ? " 



*' Have thy steps been guided by purity 

 Through the paths with wickedness rife ? 



Hast thou never smitten thine enemy ? 



Hast thou yielded naught to^the lust of the eye. 

 And naught to the pride of life ? 



Hast thou pass'd all snares of pleasure by ? 



Hast thou shunn'd all wrath and strife?" 



87 



