Were My Bosom as False as Thou Deem’st It to Be
Were My Bosom as False as Thou Deem’st It to Be - meaning Summary
Faith Defended Against Accusation
The speaker answers an accusation of religious falsehood by insisting his faith was willingly abandoned and suffered for, not feigned. He contrasts the accuser’s comfortable assurance with his own exile, sacrifice, and loss of homeland for conscience. The poem asserts personal integrity, loyalty to a spiritual cause, and readiness to face death rather than recant, framing belief as costly moral steadfastness rather than hypocrisy.
Read Complete AnalysesWere my bosom as false as thou deem’st it to be, I need not have wander’d from far Galilee; It was but abjuring my creed to efface The curse which, thou say’st, is the crime of my race. If the bad never triumph, then God is with thee! If the slave only sin, thou art spotless and free! If the Exile on earth is an Outcast on high, Live on in thy faith, but in mine I will die. I have lost for that faith more than thou canst bestow, As the God who permits thee to prosper doth know; In his hand is my heart and my hope – and in thine The land and the life which for him I resign.
Feel free to be first to leave comment.