CHARITY.
When you meet with one suspected
Of some secret deed of shame,
And for this by all rejected
As a thing of evil fame,
Guard thine every look and action,
Speak no word of heartless blame,
For the slanderer's vile detraction
Yet may soil thy goodly name.
When you meet with one pursuing
Ways the lost have entered in,
Working out his own undoing
With his recklessness and sin;
Think, if placed in his condition,
Would a kind word be in vain,
Or a look of cold suspicion
Win thee back to truth again?
There are spots that bear no flowers,
Not because the soil is bad,
But the Summer's genial showers
Never made their bosoms glad.
Better have an act that's kindly
Treated sometimes with disdain,
Than, in judging others blindly,
Doom the innocent to pain.