John Henry Newman (1801-1890). Verses on Various Occasions. IV. Humiliation. Alfred H. Miles, ed. 1907. The Sacred Poets of the Nineteenth Century

Alfred H. Miles, ed. The Sacred Poets of the Nineteenth Century. 1907.

Verses on Various Occasions.
IV. Humiliation

By John Henry Newman (1801–1890)


Lazaret, Malta, January 16, 1833 I HAVE been honour’d and obey’d,
I have met scorn and slight;
And my heart loves earth’s sober shade,
More than her laughing light.

For what is rule but a sad weight	5
Of duty and a snare?
What meanness, but with happier fate
The Saviour’s Cross to share?

This my hid choice, if not from heaven,
Moves on the heavenward line;	10
Cleanse it, good Lord, from earthly leaven,
And make it simply Thine.