Forebearance

by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Gently I took that which ungently came,
And without scorn forgave :--Do thou the same.
A wrong done to thee think a cat`s-eye spark
Thou wouldst not see, were not thine own heart dark.
Thine own keen sense of wrong that thirsts for sin,
Fear that--the spark self-kindled from within,
Which blown upon will blind thee with its glare,
Or smother`d stifle thee with noisome air.
Clap on the extinguisher, pull up the blinds,
And soon the ventilated spirit finds
Its natural daylight. If a foe have kenn`d,
Or worse than foe, an alienated friend,
A rib of dry rot in thy ship`s stout side,
Think it God`s message, and in humble pride
With heart of oak replace it ;--thine the gains--
Give him the rotten timber for his pains !