On earth my crime, my death, they knew;
My name is under all men's ban:
Ah! tell them of my respite too.
"Tell them, one blessed Christmas-night
(It was the first after I came,
Breathing self-murder, frenzy, spite,
To rue my guilt in endless flame),—
"I felt, as I in torment lay
'Mid the souls plagued by heavenly power,
An angel touch mine arm, and say,—