Poem November 13, 1902 Issue

If Men were Wise

Charles Mackay with contributions from Hamilton W. Mabie

The Universalist Leader

WHAT might be done if men were wise—
What glorious deeds, my suffering brother,
Would they unite
In love and right,
And cease their scorn of one another?

Oppression's heart might be imbued
With kindling drops of loving kindness,
And knowledge pour,
From shore to shore,
Light on the eyes of mental blindness.

All slavery, warfare, lies, and wrongs,
All vice and crime might die together;
And wine and corn,
To each man born,
Be free as warmth in summer weather.

The meanest wretch that ever trod,
The deepest sunk in guilt and sorrow,
Might stand erect
In self-respect,
And share the teeming world to-morrow.

What might be done? This might be done,
And more than this, my suffering brother,—
More than the tongue
E'er said or sung,
If men were wise and loved each other.

Charles Mackay.
In The Universalist Leader.

Our affections are not ours to be blighted and crucified, they are ours to be deepened and purified.

Hamilton W. Mabie.

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