 | Freedom's Offering, |  |
What we are, and what we might have Been.
Oh cast ye not that bitter glance,Upon thy fallen brother,
But lay his sin to some mischance,
Some cruel fate or other,
Ye know not how that haughty mien,
That cold averted eye;
Chills the life-blood in every vein—
Hopes bouyant fountains dry.
If fortune smiles upon thy path,
And fills thy store with plenty;
Hurl not the venomed darts of wrath,
At those whose's fare is scanty.
Perchance had thou been Adam's bride,
Ensnared by her temptations;
Thou woudst like her have stepped aside,
And doomed to toil the nations;
Perchance with wealth and station blessed—
The poor outcast thy debtor—
With fortune, fame and friends caressed,
Had been proud man thy better.
Perchance if poverty, or want,
Of shelter, or of dinner,
Had stared before thee grim, and gaunt,
Thou'd been the greater sinner.
Then spare those words of stern rebuke
Thy brother's shattered feelings;
His faults and frailties o'erlook;
Turn not from his appealings.
And as thou dost his faults forgive,
Thine own shall be forgiven,
When thou art called to love and live,
Around the throne of heaven.
| Freedom's Offering, | |