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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