Beareth all things. I Cor. xiii, 7 GENTLY I took that which ungently came, And without scorn forgave: -- Do thou the same. A wrong done to thee think a cat's-eye spark Thou wouldst not see, were not thine own heart dark. Thine own keen sense of wrong that thirsts for sin, Fear that -- the spark self-kindled from within, Which blown upon will blind thee with its glare, Or smothered stifle thee with noisome air. Clap on the extinguisher, pull up the blinds, And soon the ventilated spirit finds Its natural daylight. If a foe have kenned, Or worse than foe, an alienated friend, A rib of dry rot in thy ship's stout side, Think it God's message, and in humble pride With heart of oak replace it; -- thine the gains -- Give him the rotten timber for his pains! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SUFFERED UNDER PONTIUS PILATE, WAS CRUCIFIED, DEAD, AND BURIED by CECIL FRANCES ALEXANDER JOSEPH'S COAT by GEORGE HERBERT ON THE MORNING OF CHRIST'S NATIVITY by JOHN MILTON ON THE DEATH OF A METAPHYSICIAN by GEORGE SANTAYANA PREFACE TO ERINNA'S POEMS by ANTIPATER OF SIDON ADMONITION by FREDERIKA BLACKNER IN VINCULIS; SONNETS WRITTEN IN AN IRISH PRISON: LIBERTY, EQUALITY ... by WILFRID SCAWEN BLUNT AN EPITAPH ON SIR JOHN PROWDE, LIEUTENANT TO CHARLES MORGAN by WILLIAM BROWNE (1591-1643) |