Classic Poem

If we but knew what forces helped to mold
— The lives of others from their earliest years —
— Knew something of their background, joys and tears,
And whether or not their youth was drear and cold,
Or if some dark belief had taken hold
— And kept them shackled, torn with doubts and fears
— So long it crushed the force that perseveres
And made their hearts grow prematurely old, —

Then we might judge with wiser, kindlier sight,
— And learn to put aside our pride and scorn . . .
Perhaps no one can ever quite undo
— His faults or wholly banish some past blight —
The tolerant mind is purified, reborn,
— And lifted upward to a saner view.

If we but knew what forces helped to mold
— The lives of others from their earliest years —
— Knew something of their background, joys and tears,
And whether or not their youth was drear and cold,
Or if some dark belief had taken hold
— And kept them shackled, torn with doubts and fears
— So long it crushed the force that perseveres
And made their hearts grow prematurely old, —

Then we might judge with wiser, kindlier sight,
— And learn to put aside our pride and scorn . . .
Perhaps no one can ever quite undo
— His faults or wholly banish some past blight —
The tolerant mind is purified, reborn,
— And lifted upward to a saner view.