Alfred H. Miles, ed. The Sacred Poets of the Nineteenth Century. 1907.
By Verse Musings on Nature, Faith, and Freedom (1889). II. Freedom. II. The Devout Skeptics Dying PrayerJohn Owen (18361896)
A
From human error longing to be free;
Earth’s dubious dogmas I have long since scorned,
And, tired of blindly groping, hope to see.
Their skeptic I—distrustful of their sooth,
Their clamorous certainties, convictions rash,
Unfounded as the baseless dreams of youth.
From earth to heaven, with weakness unbemoaned;
I dare not formulate, assert, pronounce,
Until I see Thee, who art Truth enthroned.
Whereat, with angry wonderment amazed,
Men with their tablets trebly written on,
And crossed and blotted, cry, “The man is crazed.”
Truth’s clear and golden impress on my soul;
No palimpsest, with earth-born error blurr’d
And surface scratched; but new and clean and whole.
A sacrifice to truth—far hence I fling,
With dying breath, beliefs, convictions, creeds,
Mere human baggage—to Thyself I cling.