Child of earth and heaven, Repentance!
Of our solemn joys a part,
Riddle to the rebel bosom,
Solved by every lowly heart—

Thou, the moment I beheld thee,
Wast a fiend to my despair;
Presently, in clearer vision,
Wast a seraph, passing fair.

Then I loved thee, then embraced thee,
Then I tasted bliss divine;
Talk they of superior pleasures?
Angels might have envied mine.

Happy angels, with their harpings,
Standing on the crystal floor,
Never knew his bless­èd sorrow,
Who, forgiven, loves the more.

Darkened earth, a wandering planet
From its center and its sun,
Has a joy obedient Hea­ven,
Shining Heaven, never won.

Hand in hand with me, Repentance,
Close companion, since has trod;
Thus—till on me gleam the turrets,
And the battlements of God:

Thus—to Jordan’s swelling river,
Weeping, singing to the gate;
Part we then, and part forever,
Where the steeds and chariot wait.

God forgive the tear I render!
God account it not a sin,
If a thought of sweet Repentance
Steals to Heaven and enters in!

William Bingham Tappan
Gems of Sac­red Po­et­ry, 1860