Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Ralph Waldo Emerson, comp. (1803–1882). Parnassus: An Anthology of Poetry. 1880.

Sin

George Herbert (1593–1633)

LORD, with what care hast thou begirt us round!

Parents first season us; then schoolmasters

Deliver us to laws; they send us bound

To rules of reason, holy messengers—

Pulpits and Sundays; sorrow dogging sin;

Afflictions sorted; anguish of all sizes;

Fine nets and stratagems to catch us in;

Bibles laid open; millions of surprises;

Blessings beforehand; ties of gratefulness;

The sound of glory ringing in our ears;

Without, our shame; within, our consciences;

Angels and grace; eternal hopes and fears—

Yet all these fences, and their whole array,

One cunning bosom-sin blows quite away.