Classic Poem

Kindly word and a tender tone, A
To only God is their virtue known;
They can lift from the dust the abject head,
They can turn a foe to a friend instead;
The heart close-barred with passion and pride
Will fling at their knock its portal wide;
And the hate that blights, and the scorn that sears,
Will melt in the fountain of childlike tears.
What ice-bound barriers have been broken,
What rivers of love been stirred,
By a word in kindness spoken,
— — By only a gentle word.

Kindly word and a tender tone, A
To only God is their virtue known;
They can lift from the dust the abject head,
They can turn a foe to a friend instead;
The heart close-barred with passion and pride
Will fling at their knock its portal wide;
And the hate that blights, and the scorn that sears,
Will melt in the fountain of childlike tears.
What ice-bound barriers have been broken,
What rivers of love been stirred,
By a word in kindness spoken,
— — By only a gentle word.