Page:All quiet along the Potomac and other poems.djvu/333

 SYMPATHY. 327

��SYMPATHY.

AH, wise man, who counsels us sagely, Strong woman, by sorrow untried, Don t talk to the soul grown aweary, Or the body that smitten has cried,

Until the same chrism has touched you,

Your lips tasted Marah as well, Else words kindly spoken lack wisdom

Lack sympathy s comforting spell.

Business failure comes down on your neighbor ;

You call, and you re sorry, you say; Your own gilded threshold untarnished,

What know you of down-trodden clay ?

Ailing Robin groans over his sickness ;

His duty of patience seems plain, But all the while you must remember

The fact that it isn t your pain.

Or the son of a widow goes seeking His fortune. You hear it with joy,

And strongly condemn her lone weeping ; But, wise man, it wasn t your boy.

A daughter has married and vanished,

A mother cries softly to miss The song in the house and the footstep,

The morning and night-given kiss ;

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