Religion

The Desecraters

by G. K. Chesterton 1874–1936

From The Wild Knight and Other Poems (1900)

Religion

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.

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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