UNSPOKEN WORDS.
75
UNSPOKEN WORDS.
THE 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 child.
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?
