—I spurn’d the sinful thought away,
I wept, I knelt, I strove to pray;
But Heaven is deaf to rebel prayer,
And mine sent no submission there.
Day after day crept torturing by,
And brought no hope, no comfort nigh.
Should I the penance seek to shun,
For whom the guilty deed was done?—
The urging fiend was at mine ear,
Maddening with sorrow, love, and fear,