Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The World’s Best Poetry.
Volume IV. The Higher Life. 1904. | | | | III. Faith: Hope: Love: Service | | A Deed and a Word | | Charles Mackay (1814–1889) |
| | | A LITTLE stream had lost its way | |
| Amid the grass and fern; | |
| A passing stranger scooped a well, | |
| Where weary men might turn; | |
| He walled it in and hung with care | 5 |
| A ladle at the brink; | |
| He thought not of the deed he did, | |
| But judged that all might drink. | |
| He passed again, and lo! the well, | |
| By summer never dried, | 10 |
| Had cooled ten thousand parching tongues, | |
| And saved a life beside. | |
| |
| A nameless man, amid a crowd | |
| That thronged the daily mart, | |
| Let fall a word of hope and love, | 15 |
| Unstudied, from the heart; | |
| A whisper on the tumult thrown, | |
| A transitory breath— | |
| It raised a brother from the dust, | |
| It saved a soul from death. | 20 |
| O germ! O fount! O word of love! | |
| O thought at random cast! | |
| Ye were but little at the first, | |
| But mighty at the last. | | | | |
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