SYMPATHY.
"Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep."
When childhood's joyous voice resounds
With innocent delight,
Check not the infant mirth, nor put
Those happy smiles to flight.
Add to the joy while it remains,
For on in riper years
Those eyes, now beaming with delight,
May be suffused with tears.
When on the ocean's stormy deep
The voyagers are tossed,
And seem, in that one stormy hour,
To think all hope is lost—
If they secure the haven reach,
And lose their fears and cares,
While they rejoice their homes to gain,
Mingle thy joy with theirs.
And is thy neighbour mourning now
The loss of kindred dear?
Then give thy sympathy, and drop
Upon the grave a tear.
Or knowest thou an orphan, left
To tread this world alone?
Speak words of comfort, lend thine aid,
Or take the wanderer home.
Tell of the loveliness and bloom
Of Nature to the blind;
Tell of the joys of heaven, and thus
Shed light upon the mind.
Then sympathize with every one,
And the commandment keep—
"Rejoice with them that do rejoice,
And weep with them that weep."
M. E. C.