Page:Poems Piatt.djvu/179

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FORGIVENESS.
165
We cannot kill him—though we sometimes try;
He kills us all———yes, and the soldiers, too!
Seas are not deep enough to drown him. I
Have heard that fire is—what he passes through
           Look, he is changing you!

Why, in a little while you will not be
Yourself. And then———What will he change you to,
Poor, yellow-headed child, here at my knee
Waiting to hear a foolish story through?
           Ah, Fred, what if we knew!




FORGIVENESS.
Go, show the bee that stung your hand
The sweetest flower in all the land;

Then, from its bosom, she will bring
The honey that will cure the sting.