Would It Not Be Well?

From the Rock Island Argus, May 16, 1913.
 By S. E. Kiser.
 

 We speak in accents kind and fair
     Concerning those who have departed;
 We praise the ones who travel where
     The shoreless seas are all uncharted.
 Oh, it is well that we should raise
     Our voices in a grand, sweet chorus
 And passing o’er their foibles, praise
     The worth of them that go before us.
 
 But would it not be better still
     If men might sometimes gladly hear us
 Give forth expressions of goodwill
     And kindness while they lingered near us?
 ’Tis well to praise the dead, to be
     Respectful to them and forgiving;
 But would it not be good if we
     More often spoke well of the living?