Love And Be Kind
How hotly men will wrangle—
One furious with another!
See how the strong hands mangle
Some poor down-trodden brother.
Is this the lofty nature?
Is this the lordly mind?
Can no poor human creature
Love and be kind?
But if such strife be common,
There still are nobler spirits
To rescue and illumine,
The mould that man inherits.
Such, with the lamp of goodness,
A tranquil pathway find,
Such, in the raging rudeness,
Are gentle and kind.
Strive boldly, human brother—
Not with your fellow-creature
But in self-war—to smother
One furious with another!
See how the strong hands mangle
Some poor down-trodden brother.
Is this the lofty nature?
Is this the lordly mind?
Can no poor human creature
Love and be kind?
But if such strife be common,
There still are nobler spirits
To rescue and illumine,
The mould that man inherits.
Such, with the lamp of goodness,
A tranquil pathway find,
Such, in the raging rudeness,
Are gentle and kind.
Strive boldly, human brother—
Not with your fellow-creature
But in self-war—to smother