The Leper (Katharine Tynan)

Not white and shining like an ardent flame,

Not like Thy Mother and the Saints in bliss,

But white from head to foot I bear my blame,

White as the leper is.

Unclean! Unclean! But Thou canst make me clean:

Yet if Thou clean’st me Lord, see that I be

Like that one grateful leper of the ten

Who ran back praising Thee.

But if I must forget, take back Thy word:

Be I unclean again but not ingrate.

Before I shall forget Thee, keep me, Lord,

A sick man at thy Gate.

--Katharine Tynan, “The Leper,”

Irish Poems (1914)

Image source: Brian Kershisnik, Ten Lepers Healed, available at:  https://www.newvisionart.com/products/ten-lepers-healed