The Seraphs came to Christ, and said: 'Behold!
The man, presumptuous and overbold,
Who boasted that his mercy could excel
Thine own, is dead and on his way to Hell.'

Gravely the Saviour asked: 'What did he do
To make his impious assertion true?'

'He was a Governor, releasing all
The vilest felons ever held in thrall.
No other mortal, since the dawn of time,
Has ever pardoned such a mass of crime!'

Christ smiled benignly on the Seraphim:
'Yet I am victor, for I pardon _him_.'