“AS A MAN THINKETH SO IS HE.”
So think no evil, if not evil thou wouldst be,
For as thou thinkest, so wilt thou e’en be.
If hate thou thinkest, hate will thee control.
If love thou thinkest, love will fill thy soul.
If seeking ill, ill in thy friend thou’lt find.
If seeking good, to good thou wilt him bind.
Instead of seeking in thy friend for sin,
O turn a retrospective glance within.
For what thou seekest thou wilt surely find,
For good, or evil is in thine own mind.
For as thou thinkest, thou wilt surely be
Then seek for good, and happier thou wilt be.
Mayhap thy friends may evil think of thee,
Then look within, and shocked thou mayest be
At thine own faults, and then some good may’st see
In friend or foe, whichever he may be.
Before thou censurest friend, it doth behoove
Thee to correct thyself; thy ways improve.
Thou’lt find thyself no better than thy friend,
And thinking good, thy conduct will amend.
Love’s search-light turn upon thy bitterest foe,
And thou mayst find in him such utter woe
That all thy anger mayst then turn to love,
And gentle be thy thoughts as gentlest dove.
And thou shouldst study self with greatest care;
Though heart mayst seem most pure, some fault is there.
The faults in others, thou shouldst aye condone,
If thou art perfect, thou mayst cast a stone.
MY GUESTS.
Cold Wisdom was a guest of mine;
But Pleasure came one day,
And she, with almost fiendish glee
Drove Wisdom far away.
I tried to call chill Wisdom back;
Alas! it was too late.
She never could an entrance gain
With Pleasure at my gate.
And so with recklessness I gave
Myself to Pleasure’s call.
She led me such a merry chase,
I soon seemed past recall.
Then Pleasure seemed to tire of me,
And left me worn, distraught.
She left me for a fresher field,
And never gave one thought
To me, nor to my previous life;
She’d other things to do;
For she had other lives to wreck,
Had work in pastures new.
For Pleasure has no conscience e’er.
She cares not who may fall
So long as she doth have her way,
Her victims to enthrall.
One need not treat her with disdain,
Nor drive her far away.
She often is a welcome guest,
If Wisdom too doth stay.
Companions they may even be.
Though ’tis not always wise
For Pleasure to take foremost rank,
Though decked in royal guise.
GOD IS EVERYWHERE.
God guides us o’er the barren wilds,
And o’er the waters still;
He guides us in all walks of life
If we but do His will.
Is with us in the sunshine bright,
And in the falling rain;
And God is in the pastures green,
And in the growing grain.
And He is in the fragrant flower,
And in the smallest weed;
Is in our every thought, and act,
Is in our every deed.
He dwells upon the mountains high,
He dwells upon the lea;
He made, and rules the ocean grand.
He dwells upon the sea.
Through ignorance we oftimes sin,
God loves us though we fall;
He helps us to arise again,
Does ever on us call.
’Tis vain to mourn, ’tis vain to weep,
And we should feel, should know
That life is not a funeral dirge,
That life is not all woe.
And we must live for others’ weal;
Of evil e’er beware.
And we must love, and we must trust;
For God is everywhere.
DEAD HOPES.
When Love was young, and in his prime,
And in deception not yet skilled,
I found that guile was in his heart,
E’en as with saw-dust dolls were filled.
Alas! Though sad the lesson was,
And with the deepest misery fraught;
The lesson has not been in vain,
Though ’tis experience dearly bought.
I had a loved, and trusted friend,
But when I found she was untrue,
I plucked her image from my heart;
No more for friendship will I sue.
Today Love pleads to me in vain;
For nevermore shall I him trust.
When once deception comes to us,
Dead hopes henceforth are only dust.
BURIED HOPES.
I found a slight flaw in a diamond,
And now it is worthless to me;
Though the gem is as brilliant as ever,
Henceforth ’tis the flaw I shall see.
I had a dear friend most enticing,
Her life seemed so pure unto me;
I found a slight fault in her living,
That fault evermore I shall see.
I stood by the grave of a loved one,
The world seemed so drear, and so cold;
No hope in my heart, and the future
No promise of peace did unfold.
I had a belief in my girlhood,
Essential it seemed unto me;
But now my belief seems a phantom;
From bigotry now I am free.
Alas for the hopes of our childhood;
They blossom, then wither and die,
Are buried full deep in Love’s coffin;
The grave is so cold where they lie.
We cherish our hopes for a moment,
A will-o’-the-wisp they oft are,
Dark phantoms eluding us ever,
And often our lives they will mar.
I seek for the truths, and truth only.
All error henceforth I decry,
And hid in the grave of oblivion
Full deep in that grave must e’er lie.