CONSCIENCE AND FUTURE JUDGMENT

I sat alone with my conscience
In a place where time had ceased,
And we talked of my former living
In the land where the years increased,
And I felt I should have to answer
The question it put to me,
And to face the answer and question
Through all eternity.

The ghost of forgotten actions
Came floating before my sight,
And things that I thought were dead things
Were alive with a terrible might;
And the vision of all my past life
Was an awful thing to face,
Alone with my conscience sitting
In that solemn silent place.

nd I know of the future Judgment,
How dreadful soe'er it be,
To sit alone with my conscience
Will be judgment enough for me.

Charles William Stubbs, 1845-1912