POE - TRY
• SIN'S ANTIDOTE
°Tunas, to keep themselves from sin,
Will various means employ : Same worship God- without, and some within ; And both are led To tantalize themselves instead, And to enjoy Above all present aches and self-won pains Their hope of future gains : For some again, more worldly-wise, Ambition will their conduct frame ; They know that outward strictness wins the prize, And so postpone Pleasure ; but most by fear alone Of public fame Are herded into usual ways that tend To homely virtue in the end.
Had I no other means of grace, Such bits desire would spurn, • And as a horse that falls behind the race, His rider lost, One foot entangled in the reins all crossed, I'd stop, and turn From the straight course to nibble at the grass, lleedless of how the others pass.
Alas ! my melting conscience drips Before temptation's subtle heat : Tempt me not with two ready laughing lips That seem to say, • " We wait for you." Is virtue sweet ?
Sweeter are they : A pair of love-lit eyes-are more to me Than all the precepts of the Pharisee.
And yet no dread have I, • - No fear of being Wrecked ; My errant sails are lifted by a sigh ; And by a frown My boat is led through rapids safely down.
By naught else checked,
One thing, and one alone, can keep me true—
The single fear of losing you.
Vt. B. Bnacyrr.
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