Counsel

Though sin hath marked thy brother’s brow, Love him in sin’s despite, But for his darkness, haply thou Hadst never known the light.

Be thou an angel to his life, And not a demon grim; Since with himself he is at strife, O be at peace with him.

Speak gently of his evil ways, And all his pleas allow; For since he knows not why he strays From virtue, how shouldst thou?

Love him, though all thy love he slights, For ah, thou canst not say But that his prayerless days and nights Have taught thee how to pray.

Outside themselves all things have laws, The atom and the sun; Thou art thyself, perhaps, the cause Of sins which he has done.

If guiltless thou, why surely then Thy place is by his side,— It was for sinners, not just men, That Christ the Saviour died.