| Higginson and Bigelow, comps. American Sonnets. 1891. | | | | The Human Tie | | By Mary Mapes Dodge (1831–1905) |
| | “As if life were not sacred, too.”—GEORGE ELIOT. |
|
“SPEAK tenderly! For he is dead,” we say; | |
| “With gracious hand smooth all his roughened past, | |
| And fullest measure of reward forecast, | |
| Forgetting naught that gloried his brief day.” | |
| Yet when the brother who, along our way— | 5 |
| Prone with his burdens, heart-worn in the strife— | |
| Falters before us, how we search his life, | |
| Censure, and sternly punish while we may! | |
| |
| Oh, weary are the paths of Earth, and hard! | |
| And living hearts alone are ours to guard. | 10 |
| At least, begrudge not to the sore distraught | |
| The reverent silence of our pitying thought. | |
| Life, too, is sacred; and he best forgives | |
| Who says: “He errs, but—tenderly! He lives.” | | | |
|
|
|
