GIVING AND RECEIVING
By Wallace H. Holmes
IF FROM TWO
KINDS OF PLEASURE I WOULD CHOOSE
THE ONE BY
WHICH I’D WIN, THE OTHER LOSE
THE
HAPPINESS I FIND ON THIS OLD EARTH,
THRU DEEDS
OF KINDNESS AND OF VIRTUOUS WORTH,
OR PASSING,
GIVING JOY TO THOSE I KNOW,
AND TO THE
HELPLESS, QUIET ALMS BESTOW,
I KNOW I’D
RELISH NOT TEMPORARY GAIN
OR THE
MULTITUDE’S APPLAUSE, BUT LIVING AIM
MY WORK BY
ACTING IN THOSE PARTS
THAT WOULD
ENGRAVE MY NAME IN HUMAN HEARTS
OF VARIOUS
FORMS OF INDIGNATION YOU AND I
WILL FIND
IN EVERY SOUL THAT PASSES BY,
THERE’S
ONE, A LOWLY JEW OF GALILEE
USED, WHEN
HE TOOK A WHIP TO FREE
THE TEMPLE
FROM THE MONEY CHANGERS THERE.
THAT I LIKE
BEST, FOR IT LAYS NAKED, BARE,
THE
FRUITLESSNESS OF SELFISH, SORDID AIM,
AND
DISAPPOINTMENT FOUND IN WORLDLY GAIN,
AND MAGNIFIES
A THOUSAND FOLD
THE
RIGHTEOUS WAY TO WORK FOR YOUNG AND OLD.
EACH HOUR,
EACH DAY, EACH YEAR WE WIN OR LOSE
HAPPINESS
AND PEACE OF MIND THE WAY WE CHOOSE;
EACH FLOWER
AND BIRD, ALL CREATURES ON THIS EARTH
THAT HAVE
IN THEM THE PRECIOUS JEWEL OF WORTH,
TELL US
THAT, FINALLY, OUR REWARD
IS WORTH SO
MUCH WE CAN’T AFFORD
WHEN YOUNG,
NOT TO TRAIN THE WILL,
SO THAT
THRU LIFE WE’LL CHOOSE THE RIGHT THING STILL
AND
HAPPINESS THROUGHOUT THE PASSING HOURS
WILL BE
WITH THEE AND THINE AND ALL THAT’S OURS
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