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the church of the gesù.
For still the veriest slave that e'er
Gasped out in blood his life's despair,
Scourged till he died, shall meet those Eyes;
And each oppressor that below
Holds chartered right to tyrannise,
Sceptre in hand, and crown on brow,
Must meet them too—those glances keen
Shall scan, inexorably just,
That lifetime's woe, this lifetime's sin!
Earth's erring judgments pass away,
The finite doom of clay on clay,
The cruel blames of dust on dust—
But one Hand only holds the key
Of Death, of Hell, Eternity!
Gasped out in blood his life's despair,
Scourged till he died, shall meet those Eyes;
And each oppressor that below
Holds chartered right to tyrannise,
Sceptre in hand, and crown on brow,
Must meet them too—those glances keen
Shall scan, inexorably just,
That lifetime's woe, this lifetime's sin!
Earth's erring judgments pass away,
The finite doom of clay on clay,
The cruel blames of dust on dust—
But one Hand only holds the key
Of Death, of Hell, Eternity!
In birth the shadow from those Eyes
Hallows each infant's tiny brows,
In death the seal which sanctifies
Each corpse's pallid forehead shows
The shining of those Eyes divine—
In birth, in death, marked with His sign!
Howe'er the gulf betwixt is passed,
"I am the first—I am the last."
Hallows each infant's tiny brows,
In death the seal which sanctifies
Each corpse's pallid forehead shows
The shining of those Eyes divine—
In birth, in death, marked with His sign!
Howe'er the gulf betwixt is passed,
"I am the first—I am the last."
