Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, MAKING FACES, by MARY LYDIA CARPENTER



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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

MAKING FACES, by                    
First Line: How little we think, as we go our way
Last Line: We need fear no tales that our faces tell.
Subject(s): Bones; Faces


How little we think, as we go our way,
That we make our faces from day to day.
Thoughts leave their traces; they make or mar
The faces which show what we really are.

The perfect lines -- the color rare --
The charming voice and the sheen of hair
All matter naught if the sweeter grace
Of love and truth is not in the face.

The mother who bends o'er her baby's bed
And sings and smiles as she strokes his head
Is writing the lines that a saint might wear
As she fondles her baby's silken hair.

The faces of those upon the street,
Selling their wares while the wind and sleet
Search their bones through their garments thin,
Tell a silent tale of the souls within.

There are lines of courage and lines of greed,
And faces showing the pangs of need
Borne with a patience beyond the ken
Of their hurrying, heedless fellow men.

And the baser lines may become effaced;
By the nobler lines they may be replaced
If we turn our thoughts to a brother's need
And forget ourselves in a kindly deed.

And heavy hearts thus will be made light,
And a soul will shine with a face made bright
With the joy of helping a fellow man,
If only we do the best we can.

God help us all to live so well
We need fear no tales that our faces tell.





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