Poems (Hazlett-Bevis)/The Right and the Wrong

by Sophia Courtoulde Hazlett-Bevis

The Right and the Wrong.

I know what it is to be sorry,
 And I know what it is to be glad;
I've been on the hill-tops of glory,
 And I know what it is to be sad.

I've been in the homes of the lowly,
 In the rich have I roamed without care;
In places most sacred and holy,
 And in dens where there's never a prayer.

And I know as I meet every human,
 The difference we talk of is small,
'Twixt man, and 'twixt woman and woman,
 Old Adam's the same in them all.

Money ofttimes makes distinction,
 And culture and care greater still;
And pride, which will bear no extinction,
 Endeavors to sugar the pill.

But the heart of each human beats ever
 The same in the rich and the poor;
The weakly of intellect, the clever,
 The good and the bad, I am sure.

Perhaps if your lines had not drifted
 Into places most pleasant and fair,
You would not be the "uplifted"
 Any more than that creature right there.

So pause—when you think to condemn him,
 "Put yourself in his place" as it were,
Forgiving the sin, for his ignorance dim;
 Just give him a chance and a share.

There's nothing like living to never regret,
 For a soul who could happier be;
And never a wrong, but a right with it yet,
 If you sift out the wrong thoroughly.