If I had clamoured at Thy Gate
For gift of Life on Earth,
And, thrusting through the souls that wait,
Flung headlong into birth--
Even then, even then, for gin and snare
About my pathway spread,
Lord, I had mocked Thy thoughtful care
Before I joined the Dead!
But now?... I was beneath Thy Hand
Ere yet the Planets came.
And now--though Planets pass, I stand
The witness to Thy Shame.