Page:Rudyard Kipling - A diversity of creatures.djvu/171

Rh Or, if impelled to interfere,
 * Exhort, uplift, advise,

Lend not a base, betraying ear
 * To all the victim's cries.

Only the Lord can understand
 * When those first pangs begin,

How much is reflex action and
 * How much is really sin.

E'en from good words thyself refrain,
 * And tremblingly admit

There is no anodyne for pain
 * Except the shock of it.

So, when thine own dark hour shall fall,
 * Unchallenged canst thou say:

'I never worried you at all,
 * For God's sake go away!'