DEEDS.

‘ Tis well with words, oh masters, ye have sought

To turn men's yearning to the great and true,

Yet first take heed to what your own hands do;

By deeds not words the souls of men are taught;

Good lives alone are fruitful; they are caught

Into the fountain of all life ( wherethrough

Men's souls that drink are broken or made new )

Like drops of heavenly elixir, fraught

With the clear essence of eternal youth.

Even one little deed of weak untruth

Is like a drop of quenchless venom cast,

A liquid thread, into life's feeding stream,

Woven forever with its crystal gleam,

Bearing the seed of death and woe at last.