The faults and follies of most men make their deaths a gain: But thou also art a man, full of faults and follies: Therefore sorrow for the dead, or none shall weep for thee, For the measure of charity thou dealest, shall be poured into thine own bosom. That which vexeth thee now, provoking thee to hate thy brother, Bear with it; the annoyance passeth, and may not return for ever: The same combinations and results which aggravate thy soul to-day, May not meet again for centuries in the kaleidoscope of circumstance; For men and matters change, new elements mixing in continually, And, as with chemical magic, the sour is transmuted into sweetness: A little explained, a little endured, a little passed over as a foible, And lo, the jagged atoms fit like smooth mosaic. Thou canst not shape another's mind to suit thine own body, Think not, then, to be furnishing his brain with thy special notions. Charity walketh with a high step, and stumbleth not at a trifle: Charity hath keen eyes, but the lashes half conceal them: Charity is praised of all, and fear not thou that praise, God will not love thee less, because men love thee more. [Illustration] OF SORROW. I said, I will seek out Sorrow, and minister the balm of pity; So I sought her in the house of mourning; but peace followed in her train. Then I marked her brooding silently in the gloomy cavern of Regret; But a sunbeam of heavenly hope gleamed on her folded wing. So I turned to the cabin of the poor, where famine dwelt with disease: But the bed of the sick was smoothed, and the ploughman whistled at his labour. So I stopt, and mused within myself, to remember where Sorrow dwelt, For I sought to see her alone, uncomforted, uncompanioned. I went to the prison, but penitence was there, and promise of better times; I listened at the madman's cell, but it echoed with deluded laughter. Then I turned me to the rich and noble; I noted the sons of fashion: A smile was on the languid cheek, that had no commerce with the heart; Unhallowed thoughts, like fires, gleamed from the window of the eye; And sorrow lived with those whose pleasures add unto their sins.