BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU SAY

In speaking of a person’s faults,
Pray don’t forget your own;
Remember those with homes of glass
should seldom throw a stone;
If we have nothing else to do,
But talk of those who sin,
‘Tis better we commence at home,
And from that point begin.

We have no right to judge a man
Until he’s fairly tried;
Should we not like his company,
We know the world is wide;
Some may have faults – and who has not?
The old as well as the young –
Perhaps we may, for aught we know,
Have fifty to their one.

I’ll tell you of a better plan,
You’ll find it works full well;
To try my own defects to cure
before of others’ tell;
And though sometimes I hope to be
No worse than some I know,
My own shortcomings bid me let
The faults of others go.

Then let us all, when we commence
To surrender friend or foe,
Think of the harm one word would do
To those we little know;
Remember, curses, sometimes, like
Our chickens, “roost at home,”
Don’t speak of others’ faults until We have none of our own.

James J. Boucher