LIFE’S THOUGHTLESSNESS.
With careless feet we trample down
Love’s sweetest flowers oftimes.
Life’s music has so many sharps,
Discordant are Love’s rhymes.
With selfish hands we ever grasp
At what we think is best.
Unmindful we of others’ needs
Or what is their behest.
The thoughtless words we oftimes speak
Recalled can never be.
The heedless censure of a friend
Can ne’er forgotten be.
The unjust judgment which we give
May wean from us a friend.
Impatient words are daggers sharp
That will Love’s heart aye rend.
With selfish greed we grasp life’s joys;
No care for others’ woes.
The world is welcome to the thorns,
If we can keep the rose.
If our own ship outrides the gale,
Life’s bar we’ve safely crossed—
All other ships may be engulfed;
Or on rough waves be tossed.
Our careless words may pierce some heart,
And cause it deepest pain—
Awakening memories of the past
Which long in grave have lain.
’Tis ever so in life I fear.
Love’s flowers neglected are.
The weeds will thrive where flowers die,
And thus Love’s garden mar.