Newman Reader - Verses on Various Occasions

23. The Brand of Cain

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I BEAR upon my brow the sign

Of sorrow and of pain;

Alas! no hopeful cross is mine,

It is the brand of Cain.

The course of passion, and the fret

Of godless hope and fear,—

Toil, care, and guilt,—their hues have set,

And fix'd their sternness there.

Saviour! wash out the imprinted shame;

That I no more may pine,

Sin's martyr, though not meet to claim

Thy cross, a saint of Thine.

Oxford.
November 18, 1832.