_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 wouldest 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! _Coleridge._ I’ve thought of all this pride, and all this pain, And all the insolent plenitudes of power, And I declare, by this most quiet hour, Which holds in different tasks by the fire-light She, and my friends here, this delightful night, That power itself has not one half the might Of _Gentleness_. ’Tis want to all true wealth; The uneasy madman’s force, to the wise health; Blind downward beating, to the eyes that see; Noise to persuasion, doubt to certainty; The consciousness of strength in enemies, Who must be strain’d upon or else they rise; The battle to the moon, who all the while, High out of hearing, passes with her smile: The tempest, trampled in his scanty run, To the whole globe, that basks about the sun; Or as all shrieks and clangs, with which a sphere, Undone and fired, could rake the midnight ear, Compared with that vast dumbness nature keeps Throughout her starry deeps, Most old, and mild, and awful, and unbroken, Which tells a tale of peace beyond whate’er was spoken. _Leigh Hunt._ Speak _gently_!--It is better far To rule by love than fear-- Speak _gently_--let no harsh words mar The good we might do here! Speak _gently_--love doth whisper low The vows that true hearts bind; And _gently_ Friendship’s accents flow,-- Affection’s voice is kind. Speak _gently_ to the little child! Its love be sure to gain; Teach it in accents soft and mild, It may not long remain. Speak _gently_ to the young, for they Will have enough to bear; Pass through this life as best they may, ’Tis full of anxious care! Speak _gently_ to the aged one, Grieve not the careworn heart; The sands of life are nearly run, Let such in peace depart. Speak _gently_, kindly, to the poor-- Let no harsh word be heard; They have enough they must endure, Without an unkind word.