Classic Poem

Love is the fairest of flowers;
Touch it with tenderest hand;
Nourish its petals with showers
Till all its beauties expand;
Breathe its aroma and glory;
Scatter its perfume around;
Sprinkle the locks that are hoary—
Hearts that with trouble abound.

Learn from Love how to be cheery,
Guileless, and thinking no ill,
Then, when thy heart is aweary,
Patience will dwell with thee still;
Comfort the heart in its sorrow;
Work through Life's vanishing day;
Give, when the needy would borrow,—
Thou passest but once this way.

Ere thou dost mete condemnation,
When others' faults are unveil'd,
Banish thy self-adoration,—
Hast thou not fallen and failed?
Cast out the beam from thy vision;
Sweeten with honey thy voice;
Speak not with scorn and derision,
Then will the angels rejoice.