A kindly word and a tender tone, -- 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. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SUDDEN LIGHT by DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI BROKEN MUSIC by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH THREE THINGS by JOSEPH AUSLANDER AN APPREHENSION by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING THE CITY OF DESPAIR by MAXWELL STRUTHERS BURT ENTERTAINMENT GIVEN BY LORD KNOWLES: SONG OF THREE VOICES by THOMAS CAMPION |