Page:Songs from the Southern Seas and Other Poems (1873).djvu/153



HE kindly words that rise within the heart,
 * And thrill it with their sympathetic tone,

But die ere spoken, fail to play their part.
 * And claim a merit that is not their own.

The kindly word unspoken is a sin,—
 * A sin that wraps itself in purest guise.

And tells the heart that, doubting, looks within.
 * That not in speech, but thought, the virtue lies.

But 'tis not so: another heart may thirst
 * For that kind word, as Hagar in the wild—

Poor banished Hagar!—prayed a well might burst
 * From out the sand to save her parching chUd.

And loving eyes that cannot see the mind
 * Will watch the expected movement of the lip:

Ah! can ye let its cutting silence wind
 * Around that heart, and scathe it like a whip?