GIVING & RECEIVING

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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

(Wallace Holmes)