Little Words

Little Words

 

 

It was easily said that unkind word

That fell from your lips at morn,

But you little thought as away it sped

It would tear some heart like a thorn.

You did not mean it, ‘twas thoughtless yes,

But it flew on its onward track,

And the prayers and tears of all life’s years

Can never more call it back.

 

It was easily said that kindly word

That you spoke with a pleasant smile,

But it cheered a heart that was lone and sad

And it braved a heart for a trial.

The strongest monuments crumble and break

And into the dust decay,

But a kindly word shall live on and on,

Though the speaker has passed away.

 

Oh, let us be careful of each small word

We speak with but little thought.

They will carry a message of love away,

If we say the words that we aught.

Then bye and bye when our lips are mute,

And our record of life is known.

The kindly words will shine like stars

In the crown that shall be our own.

 

(Ed. Note: This poem, written in about 1910, was sent to us by Lady Mary Flemming, known to her many friends at Lakeside as “Tad,” who says that the poem was written by her grandmother, Mary McGregor, who was born in Scotland in 1841. An educated gentlewoman, she married Tad’s grandfather, Sir Patrick Flemming. Tad remembers him as rather short tempered, and is sure the poem was written to him.)