Saturday, March 3, 2018

GIVING & RECEIVING - Poem



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 GALLILEE


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


Wallace H. Holmes, Copyright 1998

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