 | Jones Very : The Complete Poems |  |
What Is The Word?
What is the word? I often hear men say,Greeting each other in the mart or street;
Seeking for something new, from day to day,
Of friend, or neighbor, whom they chance to meet.
The question wakes in me the thoughtful mind,
Do they receive the word they ask to hear?
Or is it only like the passing wind,
Or empty echo dying on the ear?
The word, O man, is not some idle sound,
Lost on the ear almost as soon as heard;
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And by its voice the inmost soul is stirred;
It falls not on the mind a barren seed,
But springeth up in fruitful thought, or deed.
Poem No. 776; c. 12 August 1865
| Jones Very : The Complete Poems | |