Religion
The Desecraters
From The Wild Knight and Other Poems (1900)
Witness all: that unrepenting,
Feathers flying, music high,
I go down to death unshaken
By your mean philosophy.
For your wages, take my body,
That at least to you I leave;
Set the sulky plumes upon it,
Bid the grinning mummers grieve.
Stand in silence: steep your raiment
In the night that hath no star;
Don the mortal dress of devils,
Blacker than their spirits are.
Since ye may not, of your mercy,
Ere I lie on such a hearse,
Hurl me to the living jackals
God hath built for sepulchres.
Cite this poem
MLA
Chesterton, G. K. “The Desecraters.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/chesterton/82/.
Chicago
Chesterton, G. K. “The Desecraters.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/chesterton/82/.
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