Kindness

One never knows

How far a word of kindness goes;

One never sees

How far a smile of friendship flees.

Down, through the years,

The deed forgotten reappears.

One kindly word

The souls of many here has stirred.

Man goes his way

And tells with every passing day,

Until life's end:

“Once unto me he played the friend.”

We cannot say

What lips are praising us to-day.

We cannot tell

Whose prayers ask God to guard us well.

But kindness lives

Beyond the memory of him who gives.