Religion

Retro Sathanas

by E. Nesbit 1858–1924

From The Rainbow and the Rose (1905)

Religion

"REFUSE, refrain: for this is not the love
The Annunciation Angel warned you of;
This is the little candle, not the sun;
It burns, but will not warm, unhappy one!"

"But ah! suppose the sun should never shine,
Then what an anguish of regret were mine
To know that even from this I turned away!
Candles may serve, if there should be no day."

"Nay, better to go cold your whole life long
Than do the sun, than do your soul such wrong:
And if the sun shine not, be life's the blame
And yours the pride, who scorned the meaner flame."

✦ ✦ ✦

From The Rainbow and the Rose (1905)

MLA

Nesbit, E. “Retro Sathanas.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/nesbit/183/.

Chicago

Nesbit, E. “Retro Sathanas.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/nesbit/183/.

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