CHARITY.
Reading edition
When you meet with one suspected Of some secret deed of shame, And for this by all rejected As a thing of evil fame, Guard thine every look and action, Speak no word of heartless blame, For the slanderer's vile detraction Yet may soil thy goodly name. When you meet with one pursuing Ways the lost have entered in, Working out his own undoing With his recklessness and sin; Think, if placed in his condition, Would a kind word be in vain, Or a look of cold suspicion Win thee back to truth again? There are spots that bear no flowers, Not because the soil is bad, But the Summer's genial showers Never made their bosoms glad. Better have an act that's kindly Treated sometimes with disdain, Than, in judging others blindly, Doom the innocent to pain.