INGRATITUDE.
If we should help a friend in needWe would not have him kneelIn humble, abject gratitude;And yet—we’d have him feelSome little kindness in his heart,Sometimes to it allude.“For sharper than a serpent’s tooth”Is base ingratitude.We try to keep the rule laid down,“Let not your right hand know”What e’er your left may give, or do,Though friend may change to foe.Though friends ignore what we have done,And often cause us pain,We still will help to lift the loads,And burdens on them lain.
If we should help a friend in needWe would not have him kneelIn humble, abject gratitude;And yet—we’d have him feelSome little kindness in his heart,Sometimes to it allude.“For sharper than a serpent’s tooth”Is base ingratitude.We try to keep the rule laid down,“Let not your right hand know”What e’er your left may give, or do,Though friend may change to foe.Though friends ignore what we have done,And often cause us pain,We still will help to lift the loads,And burdens on them lain.