| Nicholson & Lee, eds. The Oxford Book of English Mystical Verse. 1917. |
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| 271. ‘O Martyred Spirit’ |
| By George Santayana (b. 1863) |
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| O MARTYRED Spirit of this helpless Whole, | |
| Who dost by pain for tyranny atone, | |
| And in the star, the atom, and the stone, | |
| Purgest the primal guilt, and in the soul; | |
| Rich but in grief, thou dost thy wealth unroll, | 5 |
| And givest of thy substance to thine own, | |
| Mingling the love, the laughter, and the groan | |
| In the large hollow of the heaven’s bowl. | |
| Fill full my cup; the dregs and honeyed brim | |
| I take from thy just hand, more worthy love | 10 |
| For sweetening not the draught for me or him. | |
| What in myself I am, that let me prove; | |
| Relent not for my feeble prayer, nor dim | |
| The burning of thine altar for my hymn. | |
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