Monday, October 14, 2019

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

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