Forbearance

(Beareth all things.—1 Cor. xiii. 7.)

• Gently I took that which ungently came,
• And without scorn forgave :—Do thou the same.
• A wrong done to thee think a cat's-eye spark
• Thou wouldst not see, were not thine own heart dark.
• Thine own keen sense of wrong that thirsts for sin,
• Fear that—the spark self-kindled from within,
• Which blown upon will blind thee with its glare,
• Or smother'd stifle thee with noisome air.
• Clap on the extinguisher, pull up the blinds,
• And soon the ventilated spirit finds
• Its natural daylight. If a foe have kenn'd,
• Or worse than foe, an alienated friend,
• A rib of dry rot in thy ship's stout side,
• Think it God's message, and in humble pride
• With heart of oak replace it ;—thine the gains—
• Give him the rotten timber for his pains !